Grey Derivations

Exhibitions / Product design

Mitterrand+Cramer presents a new collection of one-off pieces by Maarten Baas that questions limited edition/unique pieces in relation to the production process. Gallery founder Edward Mitterrand explains more behind this idea.

By Jeanne Tan / 27-05-2010

Grey Derivations is the new collection designed by Maarten Baas, co-produced by the Geneva-based design gallery Mitterrand+Cramer and the designer. A solo exhibition presenting the new collection and a mini-retrospective of Baas' previous series opened recently as part of the Quartier des Bains contemporary art event in Geneva.

Grey Derivations comprises six handmade pieces - bookshelf, cabinet, dressoir, writing desk, table lamp and chair - with a black lacquered outer plywood casing and an inner surface lined in a seemingly soft red resin or in the case of the chair, a red seat cover. With the exception of the lamp, there is one version of each piece and an artist's proof exclusively produced for museums or prominent private collections.

The new series examines the process of producing furniture in relation to the quantity of pieces in a limited edition series. "Basically if the production is mainly industrial or automatic then in my mind there is no reason not to make it an limited edition. If it's mainly handmade then why make several? It sounds like the negation of creativity," explains gallery co-founder Edward Mitterrand. This led to the conclusion that this particular series should remain very unique considering that the production effort and craft hours would have been the same for eight pieces than for one, rendering the idea of a limited edition senseless.

"It would be a bit like asking a painter to paint the exact same painting several times," Mitterrand continues. "If by making eight we would have had the opportunity to make each piece less expensive for instance because of a mould being involved or that making the first one was much more complicated than the following ones, we would have done that. If there is a choice to be made then we make it, for instance it was possible to make a mould for the lamp so we decided to do an edition of 25. It was not possible to make a mould for the other works. It's not a decision driven by a fake marketing strategy. I'm not trying to make very unique and expensive pieces whatever the production process. The question is really to adapt the number of works to the way it's produced/built."

Exhibition photography: Claude Cortinovis
Images courtesy Mitterrand+Cramer / Design