In his ongoing bid to highlight the idiosyncratic properties of various raw and manufactured materials, seasoned British designer Max Lamb has forged an intrinsically sustainable practice. He’s crafted distinctive chairs out of cardboard that, by the very rough and rudimentary nature of their assembly, can be infinitely repaired. Of course, doing away with the restrictive and largely outdated convention – formal and aesthetic – of pristine, unblemished finishing is central to this proposition. Perhaps such a paradigm shift in thinking is necessary as we move forward into an increasingly uncertain and environmentally unstable world.
With collections like Poly Scrap Furniture, the experimental designer has been able to implement his exploration of different making techniques into objects – mostly chairs – created using off-cut components – those that are traditionally deemed too small or awkwardly shaped to use and that are usually thrown away. These iterative, never exactly replicated, designs are mostly presented by New York gallery Salon 94 and London platform Gallery FUMI.
His latest endeavor – WASTED Collection – 001 – stems from the same career-defining preoccupation but was, this time, developed in collaboration with ever-engamatic Bali eco resort Desa Potato Head. Having shifted the structure of its operations just a few years ago and rapidly but carefully expanded ever since, the complex has achieved 99.5% diversion from landfill.
For this undertaking, Lamb is repurposing a wide variety of discarded materials from within the destination, espousing the sustainable tenet of hyper locality to the fullest. Through much of his guidance and vision, the functional objects – everything from refillable candles to outdoor chairs; ceramic dinnerware to fiber-woven settees; carpets to tote bags – are being handcrafted by local artisans, putting their tried and true expertise to good use.
In many ways, Lamb is providing them with new, added relevance; allowing them to innovate without losing the potency of their long-established and continuously refined know-how: weaving, fabric-dyeing, pottery, etc. Other techniques such as plastic casting have also been implemented.
“Designers have a responsibility to justify every product we bring into the world,” Lamb says. “With WASTED, we’re not just rethinking materials, we’re celebrating the human hands and knowledge that shape them.” Lamb and the destination are in the middle of a five-year-long partnership that will result in multiple releases.
Debuted online and on-site recently, WASTED Collection – 001 comprises of eight different material families: recycled HDPE plastics; natural dyes made from composted organic matter; retired hotel linens; shattered glass reshaped using mouth-blown techniques; used cooking oil utilized as a refillable candle wax; salvaged ceramics given a new life; composites including Styrofoam and oyster shells; Balinese bamboo that has been sustainably harvested and hand-woven.
As one of several key approaches to sustainability, the notion of reuse has been around for a long time but never before has it been propagated in this fashion. As the hospitality industry continues to expand and diversify with new innovative offers targeting an increasingly discerning clientele, it’s also harnessing the potential of design in its full scope. Lamb and Desa Potato Head have set a new standard for what hotels, resorts, and other types of venues can achieve in becoming self-sufficient.
With the financial and marketing benefits fully evident, it’s clear that this isn’t a gimmick. The next step would be for these items to also be implemented within the hotel and its various spaces, as a complete manifestation of circularity.
To learn more about Max Lamb’s WASTED Collection – 001 for Desa Potato Head, visit potatohead.co.
Photography courtesy of Desa Potato Head and Max Lamb.