maarten baas workshop at domaine de boisbuchet

maarten baas workshop at domaine de boisbuchet
image © designboom

for the past week, designboom had attended workshops at domaine de boisbuchet, situated on a 15th century estate in the country’s southwest region between poitou-charentes and limoges. boisbuchet is a venue for creative experimentation, an initiative established twenty-two years ago by alexander von vegesack, founder of the vitra design museum, where for the past 16 years – each summer over the course of four months – participants have arrived from around the world to engage in relevantly themed workshops lead by selected internationally established artists, designers and architects including werner aisslinger, shigeru ban, the campana brothers, matali crasset, konstantin grcic, jaime hayon, kengo kuma, ingo mauer, max lamb, and many more.

throughout the next week, designboom will cover workshops from freitag, ron gilad, maarten baas, benjamin hubert, tomas alonso and designmarketo.

maarten baas workshop at domaine de boisbuchet
video footage courtesy maria verdú bertomeu © domaine de boisbuchet

maarten baas workshop at domaine de boisbuchet
image © designboom

based on different ‘points of view’, the workshop by dutch designer maarten baas exposed participants to baas’ intuitive and playful way of working with limited supplies and short time frames. during the week-long workshop, participants designed and produced a variety of experimental prototypes; from attempting to create the ugliest chairs in under 15 minutes, or developing full scale models from a unique selection of materials in only an hour, the workshop provided each individual a platform for making quick decisions through making and small production. in addition, interventions such as a pop-up gallery and pop-up bar ( appropriately named maarten bar ) kept each participant busy throughout the first half of the week.

a giant fried egg sits atop a hill beside the lake at boisbuchet
image © designboom

by thursday, the theme influenced by maartens commission for amnesty international encouraged each designer to create an installation that could frame a specific landmark or environment within the domaine. some of the results included an 11 meter broken table in front of the chateau and a large-scale fried egg intervention by the lake, all of which were created in just over a day.