'They're like my friends:’ Max Lamb exhibits a decade of chairs in a former church hall

The British designer’s new London show, ‘Exercises in Seating' (until 2 November 2025), brings together over 30 diverse works in a circle of connection

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall
Some of Max Lamb's 30 chairs shown in a former church hall in North West London
(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)
By
published
in News

In a lofty former church hall in north-west London, British designer Max Lamb stages a new exhibition bringing together an array of chairs he has crafted over the last decade.

‘Exercises in Seating 3’ (until 2 November 2025) reflects on the designer’s ongoing exploration of varied materials and production methods through the medium of chairs, and continues a series of shows that began in 2015.

Max Lamb's Exercises in Seating

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

The first ‘Exercises in Seating’ took place during Milan Design Week, in the industrial space of Garage Sanremo, followed by ‘Exercises in Seating 2’ a year later, staged in the picturesque grounds of the modernist Villa Noailles in Hyères, France.

Now in London, the third iteration continues the concept established 10 years ago. Just as in the previous exhibitions, Lamb has arranged the chairs in a circle – an approach he first adopted at his Royal College of Art graduation show in 2006.

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

‘It’s quite a personal thing for me, because when I present it like this, there is no hierarchy, and no favourite,’ says Lamb, speaking while sitting on one of the chairs in the installation. Though the works are arranged chronologically, ‘there is no beginning and no end’, he says, with the earliest and most recent chairs placed next to one another.

It’s a format that invites connections. ‘The chair that I’m sitting on is having a conversation with its 30 neighbours and friends in a circle,’ says Lamb. ‘That sort of dialogue between them is really interesting, when you consider the breadth of different materials and the plethora of different production methods and processes.’

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Such a range includes a mirror-like chair made using scrap polystyrene and silver nitrate (Silver Nitrate Scrap Chair, 2021), a 300kg forged steel stool (Forge Stool #3, 2017), an armchair made from bamboo and synthetic rattan (Bambooware Chair, 2019/2025) a bulging chair made using pineapple leather (Blob Chair (Piñatex), 2021), and a fluffy chair made from hand-tufted wool (Tufted Pillow Chair, 2021).

Several works harness scraps or offcuts, an approach Lamb relishes for the potential to minimise waste – and to challenge himself to make disparate things fit together. ‘I’m storing up all this material that I don’t know what to do with,’ he says. ‘To be able to turn it into something is important to me.’

I’m storing up all this material that I don’t know what to do with. To be able to turn it into something is important to me

Max Lamb

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Among the chairs on show, materials or methods repeat themselves – ‘I do like to copy myself,’ says Lamb – but he is always searching for new ways to explore them. ‘My mantra is to learn everything I can possibly learn in the way of materiality and transformative processes,’ he says. ‘It’s about trying to stay tuned into the possibilities. I like seeing what humans are capable of achieving with their hands – and seeing whether I’m able to achieve those things with mine.’

I like seeing what humans are capable of achieving with their hands – and seeing whether I’m able to achieve those things with mine.

Max Lamb

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

The hall the chairs sit in is part of a complex where Lamb and his family live in Harrow-on-the-Hill. Built as a church hall in 1884, in an Arts and Crafts style by British architect E.S. Prior, the space went on to have various uses before it was converted into a plastics factory.

When Lamb and his wife Gemma Holt bought the property in 2018, they sought to return the space to its original design by stripping out partitions and racking systems the factory had installed and repairing the historic wooden beams and panelling. One of the chairs on show – SRM Plastic Child’s Chair, 2018–2025 – is made from waste left behind by the plastics factory, SRM Plastics.

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Lamb is keenly aware of the hall’s original life as a place to bring people together, making it an ideal space to invite the local community and wider public into (visits to the exhibition can be arranged by appointment), as well as populate it with characterful chairs. ‘They're just little people,’ he says of the works joyfully. ‘They're like my friends.’

Lamb loves to learn new crafts and skills, and the exhibition also features a football he hand-stitched from mycelium leather. That almost obsessive curiosity, and desire to test out, explore, understand and iterate is what drives him forward – and results in an ever-expanding, and fascinating, body of work.

‘I get greatest satisfaction,’ he says, ‘ from making the things I haven’t yet made.’

To visit ‘Exercises in Seating 3’, please email studio@maxlamb.org. A book accompanying the exhibition, ‘Exercises in Seating: Volumes 1–3’, is available to pre-order

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Max Lamb's chairs made of different materials are shown in a circle inside an old church hall

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Max Lamb's Exercises in Seating 3: meet the chairs

Chair by Max Lamb

Wiggle Wire Chair

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Economy Armchair, 50 Armchairs

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Silver Nitrate Scrap Chair

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Scrap Poly Bronze Chair

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Rosa Aurora Marble Chair

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Working Tile Stool, part of Lamb's collaboration with Tajimi Custom Tiles

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Copper Economy Chair

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Bambooware Chair, created by Lamb as part of his long-term collaboration with Potato Head

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

6x8 Chair, from a series presented at Salon 94

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)

Chair by Max Lamb

Puff Ball, a football Lamb hand-stitched from mycelium leather

(Image credit: Angus Mill, courtesy of Max Lamb)
TOPICS
Francesca Perry

Francesca Perry is a London-based writer and editor covering design and culture. She has written for the Financial Times, CNN, The New York Times and Wired. She is the former editor of ICON magazine and a former editor at The Guardian. 

Latest
You might also like
View More ▸