British designer Max Lamb has unveiled a new chair design that is set to launch this August. Named the Min Chair, the furniture piece is a materially efficient, geometric pinewood chair designed for the Swedish furniture brand Hem. Set to debut at the 2026 3daysofdesign, the chair marks the first time Lamb has brought his iconic, low-waste seating prototype into large-scale production.
The chair is cleverly manufactured from a single timber dimension. Every single block of wood is cut diagonally and split to form the legs, back, and seat. This smart cutting technique stretches the raw material twice as far and leaves near-zero waste. The structural assembly leaves a clean, distinct keyhole gap right where the user’s shoulders rest, giving it a graphic, sketch-like quality.
The chair features slim, angled posts that support a peaked backrest. It looks like a tiny piece of architecture tucked under the table due to its blocky, unapologetic form. By utilizing soft, honest pinewood, the chair is built to gracefully show its age, wearing everyday scratches and dents as signs of character.
The design is a refined evolution of Lamb’s 2020 Economy Chair. He originally hand-carved 60 iterations of the prototype out of crude blocks of polystyrene over three days. Reimagining it in wood shifts the design from an experimental workshop concept into an architectural, everyday object.
Also Read: Deadstock Tiles and Wood Find New Life in Stunning Tables
True to Lamb’s hands-on philosophy, the final aesthetic is chunky, warm, and graphic. It does not hide how it was constructed; the final look is dictated entirely by the physical constraints and cutting patterns of the manufacturing process.
The Min Chair was the third major collaboration between the designer and the furniture brand. According to Hem’s official release, the piece will be commercially available after the summer of 2026.
