Maarten Baas and The Shanghai Riddle Exhibition

Design bad boy Maarten Baas’ latest project is “The Shanghai Riddle.”  The wooden reinterpretations of plastic furniture is simply amazing.

Here’s what wallpaper had to say:

“The series is in participation with Pearl Lam’s Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai and the result of a scheme set up to introduce European designers to local Chinese practices. Baas took inspiration from time spent observing daily life and culture in Shanghai.

Baas’ interpretation comes in the form of hand-carved elm replicas of plastic mass-produced furniture, highlighting the contrast between treasured Chinese handcraft and contemporary, mass-produced and mass consumed. As with all Baas’ work the unlikely aesthetic is humorous but thought-provoking rather than gratuitous.”

More examples of his work after the jump.