Max Lamb Explained

Max Lamb (born 1980) is a British furniture designer who combines traditional, often primitive, design methods with digital design. He is known for employing unusual approaches to using natural materials, including pouring pewter onto sand, and volcanic rock.

His studio is based in North London.

Personal life

Lamb was born in Cornwall in 1980.^[1] He attended Amersham & Wycombe College for art and design in 2000 where he received several awards. He also received a City and Guilds Photography Certificate in 2000.

He later attended Northumbria University, receiving a degree in three dimensional design in 2003. In 2006, he received his master's degree in design products from the Royal College of Art. After graduation, his professor, industrial designer Tom Dixon, hired him as a special projects designer.

Lamb started his own design firm in 2007. He has taught at Industrial Design at École cantonale d'art de Lausanne in Switzerland since 2008 and at the Royal College of Art.

Lamb is married to jewelry designer Gemma Holt.

Works

Lamb works with a diverse range of materials including but not limited to stone, wood, metal, plastic, as well as "Marmoreal", a terrazzo-like composite material that he himself invented. He is known for his innovative approach and use of natural materials within his designs. An example of this experimentation is his triangular pewter stool, which he created by digging the form of the stool into the sand and pouring liquid pewter into the sand form. He has also made a pewter stool that combines hexagonal shapes. Another example of natural elements used in his art work is his nano-crystalline copper dishware collection.

Lamb often uses traditional techniques to achieve innovative contemporary solutions. His Urushi Series is a collection of seating, tables and cabinets finished with Urushi lacquer from Wajima, Ishikawa, Japan. The structure of each piece is obtained by cleaving chestnut with green-woodworking techniques in order to preserve the natural appearance of the wood. Urushi lacquer is then applied following traditional Japanese methods.^[2]

Lamb's respect for natural materials, specifically wood, is evident in the project 'My Grandfather's Tree by Max Lamb'. Shown for the first time at Somerset House (London, UK) in 2015, the project was a compilation of 131 logs installed and arranged in the same order the tree was meticulously cut. Originally the work formed a 187 years old Ash tree from Monckton Walk Farm (Yorkshire). As the tree started getting rotten, the designer decided to give it a new history; this resulted in a collection of 'general purpose' logs that respect the tree's life by revealing its growth rings, knots, branches and crotches.^[3]

The designer's extensive practice was epitomized in an exhibition entitled "Exercises in Seating" (2015) where he arranged in a circle 40 uniquely designed chairs that he made using various materials and techniques spanning the course of nearly ten years; the exhibition was held in Milan, Italy, during the Milan Design Week.

Exhibitions

2023

• Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, United Kingdom^{[4] [5]}

2019

• Max Lamb: Special Delivery - Salon 94 Design, New York, USA

2018

• Max Lamb: Exercises in Seating - The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
• Re-Considering Canon - Design Museum, London, UK
• Poème Brut - Design Museum Gent, Belgium

2017

• Boulders by Max Lamb - New York, New York, Salo 94 Design
• Solid Textile Board benches by Max Lamb for Really and Kvadrat - Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy^[6]

2016

• Villa Noailles Design Parade - Hyères, France
• Albanian Pavilion, Venice Biennale of Architecture - Venice, Italy
• Book & Branch - My Grandfather's Tree by Max Lamb - Gallery FUMI, London, UK

2015

• My Grandfather's Tree by Max Lamb – Gallery FUMI, Somerset House, London, UK
• Ayan Farah, Max Lamb, & Chris Succo - Almine Rech Gallery, London, UK
• Echo - Exhibition -The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth, UK
• Marmoreal, Design Miami/Basel - Dzek, Basel, Switzerland
• Exercises in Seating - Milan, Italy

2014

• Design is a State of Mind - Serpentine Galleries, London, UK
• Luke Gottelier & Max Lamb - Kate Macgarry, London, UK
• Marmoreal, Milan Design Week - Dzek, Milan, Italy
• 2013
• Modern Makers, Chatsworth House, UK

2012

• Making Ideas: Experiments in Design, GlassLab, Corning Museum of Glass, New York, US
• Mark-ing, British Council, Japan Design Week, Tokyo, Japan
• Rocky Crockery for 1882 Ltd, London Design Festival, London, UK
• RAW CRAFT, Fine Thinking In Contemporary Furniture, touring Exhibition by Crafts Council - Collect 2012, London, UK

2011

• Studioware - Gallery FUMI, London, UK
• Superba - J.F. Chen, Los Angeles, US
• Designs of the Year – Design Museum, London, UK
• Deptford Design Market Challenge, Studio Raw, London Design Festival, London, UK
• Prototypes & Experiments IV – The Aram Gallery, London, UK

2010

• The New Domestic Landscape - Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, UK
• Commissioned - Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy
• Objects with a Void - Workshop For Potential Design, London, UK
• The Vermiculated Ashlar, HSBC Private Bank Design Collection Commission & London Design Festival - Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK^[7]

2009

• Corn Craft, Gallery FUMI, London, UK
• Passionsweg Max Lamb, R. & L. Lobmeyer - Vienna Design Week, Austria
• Tokyo Designers Week - Tokyo, Japan

2008

• Beau Sauvage - Gallery Libby Sellers, London, England
• Max Lamb Solo Show - Johnson Trading Gallery, New York, US
• Materialism - Gallery FUMI, London, UK
• Solids of Revolution - Design Miami/Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2007

• Top Ten - British Council, Milan, Italy
• Max & Hannah Lamb - Godolphin House, Cornwall, UK
• Inspired by Cologne - Imm Cologne, Germany
• Decompressions Chamber – Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK

2006

• Max Lamb & Robert Phillips - Canary Wharf, London, UK
• Design Mart - Design Museum, London
• Made by Machine - Milan Design Week, Italy
• Made in Nigeria - Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria.
• The Greenhouse - Stockholm Furniture Fair, Sweden.

2005

• The Shop - Royal College of Art, London, UK
• ISOS Collection - Furniture Works, London, UK
• The Castle Keep - Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2004

• Work in Progress Show - The Royal College of Art, London, UK
• Design UK Selection - Gainsborough Studios, London, UK
• Made in Newcastle - Hamals Design Shop, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
• Pulse - Earls Court, London, UK
• Design London - Superstudio 13, Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy

2003

• New Designers, Urban Interiors - Commonwealth Institute, London, UK
• Max Fraser’s Design Pick of 2003 - Gainsborough Studios, London, UK

2000

• Foundation Exhibition, Amersham & Wycombe College – Amersham, The Netherlands

Awards

• 2010 – HSBC Design Collection Commission
• 2009 – 'The Essence of the 21st Century' Courvoisier Award
• 2008 – ‘Designer of the Future’ - Design Miami/Basel
• 2004 – Hettich International Design Award

Museums acquisitions and collections

• Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France - Urushi Stool^[8]
• The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel - Sheet Steel Chair
• Design Museum - London, UK
• Wolfsonian Museum - Miami, US
• Cooper Hewitt, New York, US - Copper Series Chair, Pewter Stool, Scrap Poly Chair^[9]
• Design Museum Gent, Belgium - Jigsaw (Richlite)

Books / Publications

Inventory Works (2024) published by Dent-De-Leone

Box (2023) published by Dent-De-Leone

Urushi is not Alone (2019) published by Dent-De-Leone

Max Lamb: Exercises in Seating (2018) published by Yale University Press

My Grandfather's Tree (2015) published by Dent-De-Leone

Exercises in Seating (2015) published by Dent-De-Leone

China Granite Project II (2010) published by Apartamento Books

Further reading

• Triangular Pewter stool, 2008 process by Design Museum Holon on YouTube
• Modern Day Artisans: Max Lamb by Hypebeast Ltd. on YouTube

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Max Lamb Corning Museum of Glass. www.cmog.org. 2020-04-11.
2. Book: Lamb, Max. Exercises in Seating. Dent-de-Leone. 2015. 978-1-907908-24-8. UK. 59.
3. Book: Lamb, Max. My Grandfather's Tree. Dent-de-Leone. 2015. 978-1-907908-28-6. UK. 4.
4. Web site: Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth . 2023-03-03 . www.chatsworth.org . en-GB.
5. Web site: Bertoli . Rosa . 2023-03-17 . Chatsworth House design exhibition explores contemporary design themes in an eclectic setting . 2023-03-17 . wallpaper.com . en.
6. Web site: Spring board: Kvadrat, Really and Max Lamb set a new benchmark in sustainable design. Bertoli. Rosa. 13 April 2017. Wallpaper*.
7. Web site: Video: Max Lamb: Inspired by the Cast Courts. www.vam.ac.uk. Victoria and Albert Museum, Digital Media. en-GB. 2017-02-01. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110801183248/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/m/max-lamb-inspired-by-the-cast-courts/. 2011-08-01.
8. Web site: Applied Arts, Craftwork and Industrial Design Commission 2015 Centre national des arts plastiques. www.cnap.fr. en-CNAP. 2017-02-01.
9. Web site: Max Lamb People Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. collection.cooperhewitt.org. 2017-02-01.