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Max Lamb | |
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| Born | 1980 (age 45–46) |
| Education | Northumbria University, Royal College of Art |
Max Lamb MBE (born 1980) is a British furniture designer who combines traditional, often primitive, design methods with experimental processes. He is known for employing unusual approaches to using natural materials, including pouring pewter onto sand, and volcanic rock.
His studio is based in London.
Lamb was born in Cornwall in 1980.
He 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 and at the Royal College of Art.
Lamb is married to jewellery designer Gemma Holt.
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 recipe 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 triangular shapes. Another example of natural elements used in his art work is his Nanocrystalline copper works.
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.
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 had been affected by ash dieback, 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.
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.
Exercises in Seating has subsequently been shown at Villa Noailles, Hyères, France in 2016, Art Institute Chicago, Chicago USA in 2018 and in Harrow on the Hill, London, UK in 2025.
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