Max Lamb

Max Lamb (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.

He attended Northumbria University, receiving a degree in three dimensional design in 2003. 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.

Exhibitions 2026

Max Lamb: Elements, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA

2025 Max Lamb: Exercises in Seating 3, London 2024 Inventory, Salon 94 Design, New York 2023 Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, United Kingdom Box by Max Lamb at Gallery FUMI 2019 Max Lamb: Special Delivery – Salon 94 Design, New York, USA Urushi Wajima by Max Lamb at Gallery FUMI, London 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 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 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 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, FR Design Museum Gent, BE The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir, Turkey San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), CA Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, DE The Art Institute Chicago, Chicago, Ill, USA Frac Ile-De-France, Paris, FR Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, USA

Books and other publications

Exercises in Seating Volumes 1 – 3 (2025) published by Dent-De-Leone 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