Max Lamb's seminal Economy Chair goes into production with Hem

British designer Max Lamb has brought his most recognisable seating prototype into production for the first time, rendering it in sleek pinewood for Swedish brand Hem.

The Min Chair is an iteration of the Economy Chair, a chunky design that Lamb first conceived in 2020 when he made 60 chairs by hand out of slabs of polystyrene over just three days.

Min Chair by Max Lamb for Hem — Max Lamb has brought his most recognisable seating prototype into production

Since then, Lamb has rendered the prototype in materials ranging from copper to silver nitrate to create one-off pieces. But Min Chair is the first industrially produced Economy design, brought to life in collaboration with Lamb's longtime partner Hem.

Described by the brand as "subtly subversive", the polygonal chair is assembled using components cut diagonally from a single slab of pinewood.

Economy Chairs — The Min Chair is the latest iteration of Lamb's Economy Chair. Photo courtesy of Max Lamb

Lamb cut the timber at precise angles to form the chair's four legs, smooth seat and sturdy backrest, before slotting the pieces together with dowels.

According to Hem, almost no material is wasted in the production process, as Lamb uses every part of the timber slab to make a single chair.

Pinewood chair by Max Lamb — The furniture was made from a single piece of pinewood. Photo courtesy of Max Lamb

This frugal approach is typical of Lamb's design process, which has seen him create benches from discarded cotton and wool for Danish brand Kvadrat and transform surplus toothpaste tubes into one-of-a-kind products for Potato Head hotel in Bali, Indonesia.

"Continuing Lamb's series exploration of reduction and clarity in construction, the latest iteration [of the chair] presents a near-zero-waste approach to design," said the brand.

"Translated from its original self-build logic into a scalable model, Min Chair is defined by Lamb's construction principles," added Hem.

The seating will be on display in an exhibition at next month's 3 Days of Design festival in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Min Chair marks Lamb's third collaboration with Hem. In 2015, he designed the Last Stool, a speckled stool crafted from a single sheet of spun metal. Five years later, Lamb created the Max Table from lengths of Douglas fir.

The photography is by Erik Lefvander unless stated otherwise.

3 Days of Design 2026 takes place from 10 to 12 June 2026 at various locations across Copenhagen, Denmark. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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