words Anna Bates

Wood gives a luxurious twist to the common plastic garden chair. Created by Dutch designer Maarten Baas, the chair “could be something you’d see in an antique shop,” he says. “It’s only when you look at it twice that you’re like – shit man, I see this everywhere.”

The as-yet-unnamed design was made by Chinese craftsmen and is inspired by Shanghai paradoxes. “In China there’s so much craft,” says Baas. “They can do things that you just couldn’t find in Holland. But they can also copy very well.”

The form also references the vogue in Shanghai for kitsch and plastic. The piece was commissioned for an exhibition by the local Contrasts Gallery, but it will be previewed in Milan.