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As he continues his ongoing exploration of the surprising possibilities of everyday materials, designer Max Lamb launches a new body of work, Boxes, that offers a new life after delivery for the cardboard box
Photography by Tom Jamieson, courtesy of Gallery FUMI
Words by Mandi Keighran
The humble cardboard box is ever present in our lives – it protects our online shopping, conveys our possessions when we move house and can be used to store or transport almost any product. As far as packaging materials go, it’s also incredibly sustainable thanks to its ability to be endlessly recycled. Yet, in all of these applications, the cardboard box is a supporting actor. British designer Max Lamb is challenging this perception by transforming cardboard into the star of a new collection of furniture.
‘I value every raw material, and this idea has been bubbling away subconsciously ever since I’ve been a practising designer,’ says Lamb. ‘I’ve been keeping hold of cardboard boxes with a view to transforming them into more permanent, functional pieces with a primary, rather than secondary, function.’
In his practice, the London-based designer explores the boundaries between art and design, bringing a sustainable and considered approach to his work. Not one afraid to experiment with styles or design processes, from the hand-dyed wool of his Tufted Series to the anodised aluminium of the Jigsaw Series, Lamb is a keen proponent of giving scrap material new life.
Photography courtesy of Gallery FUMI featuring Max Lamb’s Tufted Pillow Chair, 2021
His new collection then, which is now on show at Gallery FUMI in London until 18 November, is titled Boxes – a title that echoes the simplicity and pragmatism of the material itself, as well as his knack for material experimentation.
There are more than 30 pieces in the collection, which explores different scales, from small stools and bowls, to armchairs and coffee tables. The largest piece is a ‘monster’ dining table that is an assemblage of cardboard boxes; and there’s even a wastepaper basket in playful reference to the conventional connotations of cardboard as refuse.
Not only does the new body of work explore different scales, but also a wide variety of craft techniques. Some boxes are stacked; others are manipulated using a blade to make incisions that radically transform their shape, while others are entirely broken down into a pulp that is used as a surface application to achieve more organic, softer forms.
A starch-based glue – basically flour and water – is used as a binder. So clean is this process that even Lamb’s six-year-old son has been helping out in the studio. ‘It’s really simple,’ says Lamb. ‘There’s a brilliant accessibility and cleanliness to it – we can be as messy as we want and could literally lick our hands clean if we really wanted to!’
Photography by Tom Jamieson, courtesy of Gallery FUMI
Lamb likens working with cardboard to working with timber – a material he is very familiar with. Both materials have a grain that offers structural integrity in one direction, and layers of the material can be cross laminated to add stability.
For the new body of work, Lamb has created enormous blocks of cardboard by gluing layers of corrugated card together – if the grain runs in the same direction the resulting block can be used to create curves, and when cross laminated, it can be used to create structurally stable elements such as tabletops and backrests.
Given our understanding of cardboard as a product to be used and then discarded, one of the biggest questions is that of durability and usability. ‘The pieces aren’t as durable as wooden chairs, but they are plenty durable if they are cared for,’ says the designer.
Photography by Tom Jamieson, courtesy of Gallery FUMI
The material will be left in its raw state where possible, but Lamb is also playing with the idea of creating his own tempera paints from starch to use as a surface treatment to increase durability, and using linseed oil paints on surfaces, such as tabletops, that need to have a degree of water resistance. The idea of pieces that develop a patina and evolve over time, however, is one of the key concepts Lamb hopes to explore with the collection.
‘My approach to durability and permanence is slightly complicated and there was a little bit of nervousness from the gallery as they are selling these pieces,’ says Lamb. ‘You can repair things and it’s the same with my furniture. If it starts to wear out, you could paste another bit of cardboard on with flour and water, for example. Everything is going to wear out eventually and, as the creator of this work, I shouldn’t be expected to guarantee absolute permanence.’
It’s not an entirely unexpected perspective from the designer, who created a chair from potato starch for his 2006 graduation show at London’s Royal College of Art that was dissolved by rain after it was shown. His first piece of work as a student at Northumbria University was even a cardboard coffee table that his parents still use 23 years later.
Photography courtesy of Gallery FUMI and Max Lamb featuring Jigsaw (Aluminium), 2017
‘These pieces are incredibly strong and durable – I’m excited to demonstrate how strong paper can be,’ says Lamb. ‘Everybody has cardboard in their house, and we just throw it away on a daily basis. There’s something super beautiful about this accessibility. I’m trying to put the emphasis on the cardboard and make it the protagonist.’
While Lamb’s new body of work radically challenges our understanding of the potential of cardboard as a material, the value of craft and the permanency of the objects we use, he isn’t the first designer to play with cardboard. Frank Gehry’s cardboard furniture is perhaps the best-known example, and Lamb was aware of their cultural impact while creating his collection – particularly the way they have become iconic despite being made from a conventionally non-permanent material.
‘The Beaver Chair is almost designed with the knowledge that it’s going to disintegrate and, through use, become soft,’ says Lamb. ‘I’m taking a slightly more rigid approach to crafting, making things very structural and archetypal in their form – I’m having to really engineer the cardboard to give it structural integrity.’
