In today’s blog, we’re shining a light on one of our favourite artists, Maarten Baas, whose playful approach to time and design never fails to captivate.
Born in 1978 in Arnsberg, Germany, Maarten Baas graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2002 and quickly established a distinct voice in the design world. Building on his graduate research exploring beauty and imperfection, he introduced Smoke by charring furniture and preserving it in resin, capturing nature’s transient state. His Clay series reveals a raw, artistic vulnerability, with each piece sculpted by hand. However, it was his Real Time series of 12 hour films featuring live performances that indicate the time that brought him international acclaim, seamlessly blending theatre, art, film and design.
At first glance, you might mistake it for a simple clock. But at second look, you’ll see someone inside, quietly erasing and redrawing the hands of time, minute by minute. It’s haunting, humorous and slightly mad. His Real Time series is a masterclass in slow art, transforming the humble clock into something poetic, performative and profoundly human.
In the lobby of The Whitby Hotel in New York, you’ll find one of Baas’s iconic clocks standing proudly. Guests stare, point, then smile as they realise what they are witnessing. This is not your average tick-tock grandfather clock. The man inside painstakingly redraws the hands of the clock every single minute. It’s theatrical, mesmerising and strangely calming.
When we created a room for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, we knew we wanted something with a heartbeat, something to remind people that design is not just about what we see, but how we feel. One of Baas’s clocks sat quietly in the room, gently keeping time in the most peculiar way. Guests walked in and were transfixed. It was as though time had become a living character in the room.
Just across the park from our South Kensington office, be sure to look up as you pass through Paddington Station. You will find one of Baas’s largest Real Time installations serving as a public art piece that stops busy travellers in their tracks. A life-sized figure appears trapped inside the clock, climbing a ladder, wiping and redrawing as a battle with time plays out in full view of the masses.
Baas’s clocks are reminders that time isn’t just something we measure, but something we experience. They make us stop, look and feel. In a world of digital precision and mechanical coldness, his work feels tactile, human and full of character.