We had the honour to design the first solo exhibition of Californian artist JB Blunk hosted in Europe.
The installation comprises 40 ceramics, which are just one aspect in his important multi-disciplinary practice.
For complete press release of the exhibition please check Kate MacGarry Gallery.
The exhibition design comprised display tables, plate stands as well as a system for wall mounting pieces discretely and safely.
Photos by Angus Mill.
This dining table is made of Am. cherry and Iroko.
The structure is inspired by the structural rigidity of an I-beam. The tabletop consists of a sequence of vertical and horizontal boards which results in an entirely hollow structure.
Consequently production consumes a reduced amount of material and creates a very stable and stiff tabletop which does not require a supporting under frame.
This method of construction allows for tables with longer spans using less material.
Material: Am. Cherry, Iroko
Dimensions: 340 x 75 x 75cm
This shelf is inspired by the 'lenticular printing technique' which most people know from 3D postcards or tilt cards. This technique allows the image to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles. This shelf is inspired by this principle.
The piece is designed to be 'explored' by walking around it, since it appears to look different from various angles. The lenticular shelf is designed to be accessible from two sides, the front and the back. It therefore acts as a room divider and is most likely placed off the wall.
From one side it will look as if it is made of neat solid blocks of colour whereas from another perspective it will look like an open, airy shelf.
Most suitable for open plan offices or generously sized domestic environments. It consists of individual boxes which are connected to each other with invisible fasteners.
images by Amandine Alessandra
Wall mounted cabinet with hinged mirror. Made of solid Iroko and Walnut, hand textured on the outside.
If you are interested in purchasing this piece or consider commissioning a similar piece, please inquire here.
A stone base, wooden uprights and bent tubular steel form this simple but elegant clothes rack.
The rack comes flat pack in four main components which makes assembly very easy.
Two versions in differing materials were created for the exhibition 'Making A Living' in 2017.
This is a flat pack bed made of stone.
2mm thick real stone veneer is pressed on Mahogany edged panels to form the front, side and head board of this bed.
Four chamfered metal brackets connect each panel and prevent painful encounters between your toe and the corner of the bed.
Materials: real stone veneer in Slate and Redstone, Mahogany, powder coated steel, Pine
Dimension: 160 x 200cm
Made to order. 6-8 weeks. For enquiries please get in touch at info@maxfrommeld.com .
images by Amandine Alessandra
Hand textured cruiser skateboards.
48cm long, GLOBE trucks and wheels.
In June 2017 I spent one month in Inverness, California, at the home of my father-in-law, renowned artist J.B. Blunk (1926–2002).
I created this collection of hand carved wooden objects using four tools: a band saw, drill, grinder and sander.
The wood is very special and historically significant. Almost all the wooden chunks I carved are off cuts from larger sculptures and seating environments made by Blunk between 1965–1990. He began working with wood in the early 1960s, first making stools and small tables and eventually earning commissions for large-scale wood environments and public works.
Blunk kept and stored the discarded chunks for decades in his workshop. I had the privilege to pull from this collection of rare woods and make an assortment of unique objects, all directed by the form and inherent qualities of the material and place.
The outcomes are made of maple, bay and walnut but mainly old-growth redwood, a soft and resilient species native to Northern California and the West Coast of North America.
Old-growth Californian redwoods are known to be the tallest and oldest living trees on earth.
If there is interest in purchasing any items of this body of work, please get in touch at info@maxfrommeld.com .
These unique handmade glass spoons are perfect for savoring desserts, stirring sugar into your tea or scooping coffee grounds.
The spoons are made from clear and coloured borosilicate glass also known as Pyrex. Available in a range of sizes and colours here directly. We keep a limited amount of stock but are able to manufacture higher quantities on demand.
Also available from selected retailers:
Momosan Shop/UK
General Store/USA
EastForkPottery/USA
Makers&Brothers
Una Negozio/USA
MAKING A LIVING. A solo exhibition hosted by The ARAM Gallery, from 18 September - 28 October 2017.
A new collection of products for the home was produced in two locations: Max Frommeld’s East London studio and his family’s workshop in California. Making the products with only the tools and materials available at each site established his constraints, while inspiring how and what he made. Funded through the furniture design award from The Arts Foundation, this exhibition brings together both sets of work to form a domestic setting, reflecting the intentional and intuitive aspects of making and living.
All images by Amandine Alessandra
Analog App is a fun physical puzzle game.
Complete the game by shaking the object until the loose components sit neatly in the corresponding outline of the central piece.
Analog App requires and trains physical skills such as hand-eye coordination and general motor skills. It enhances cognitive skills like problem solving as well as emotional skills such as patience and persistence.
It is designed for any age group above 6 years.
Enquire for pricing via email.
A series of wooden serving trays were created for a pop-up event at HEATH Ceramics SF and LA.
The serving trays are made in a variety of woods and are inspired by traditional Chinese-Japanese 'Geta' foot ware.
Set of tumblers with carafe. Each piece is hand blown and therefore unique with its own character. Made in borosilicate glass.
Designed for a pop-up event at HEATH Ceramics SF and LA.
For prices please inquire via email.
Play Structure, commissioned by a private client.
Panel Discussion is a design project by Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies that acknowledges the history of Villa Noailles as both a place of relaxation and entertainment. Using a single material, Valchromat – an engineered and improved version of MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard), the designers developed objects that bring people together and encourage communal activities.
The designers have selected the bench as a furniture type for Panel Discussion because of the Villa’s history of creative dialogue. The bench has a reputation as a communal piece of furniture that in a very direct and physical way brings people together. Artist Francis Cape has described a bench as a seat to share. In his book We Sit Together, Cape explains that sharing a bench means sharing the same material support, also sitting at the same level.1 Wanting to encourage social interaction and enhance the public space of the Villa, Frommeld and Mathies have produced benches of different heights and depths.
The designers experimented with the proportions of a traditional bench and created modular components: mitered boxes for seats and legs. These elements are exaggerated and varied in order to create a series of parts that can be arranged and assembled to form a bench. Inspired by the Villa’s geometry of crisp rectangles and squares, Frommeld and Mathies have applied primary shapes and patterns to each piece of furniture. Importantly, the patterns are drawn into the furniture rather than applied. The decoration is therefore integral to the benches and disrupts the symmetry of the orthogonal bench forms.
Located in the entry courtyard, the furniture produced for Panel Discussion frames, disturbs, complements and contrasts the Villa’s modernist volumes by creating new surfaces and places to sit.
Text by Mariah Nielson
1 Francis Cape, We Sit Together: Utopian Benches From the Shakers to the Separatists of Zoar, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013), p. 9
10ft x 12ft cabin for a private client.
The brief was to design and build a guest cabin which wouldn't require planning permission.
All images by Leslie Williamson
Design and build of a playground for private client.
Made of Siberian larch, engineering plastic and stainless steel. The structure comprises a sand pit, climbing net, two bars, two swings and a slide.
Instead of constructing a marble run up from the ground, 'Let the good times roll', is designed for a wall – it’s tidy and works in rooms with limited space. It consists of different shapes mounted to a magnetic panel.
This marble run is also a drawing board because the shapes and components included lend themselves to be rearranged to make patterns and pictures.
A dustpan and brush, made of cedar wood, PP bristles and aluminium.
Edition of 10.
The project started as an experiment trying to 'curve bend' aluminium.
'Folding Sled' combines traditional craft and contemporary technology and is a fresh alternative to the traditional ‘Davos’ sleds. The sled is made from solid ash and engineering plastic and is suitable for one or two people.
The main advantages of the sled are transportation, storage and assembly. 'Folding Sled' addresses the unavoidable issues of lack of space, storage of seasonal products and transport – it transforms intuitively into an object that is less than half of its original size.
This project is a collaboration between Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies.
The Folding Sled is available from Graf Schlitten in Switzerland.
This furniture commission was for a chef in London. She needed a new kitchen that could accommodate her cook book collection and provide ample room for testing receipts and cooking for her family.
The commission included a wall mounted shelf for books, counter space, and drawers for cups, plates and kitchen supplies.
'Double Tote' is a simple construction of two identical zipped tote bags.
As a result of its construction, the bag comprises two water repellent compartments for valuables and one open area for easy access.
Made of cordura fabric.
This adjustable mirror consists of several identical walnut bowls and a mirror attached to a marble sphere.
Each bowl can be used as a jewellery box to store your valuables. The bowl and the marble sphere form an adjustable mirror inspired by a ball joint.
Earrings made from a variety of polished woods: maple, ash, wenge, walnut, hazelnut, beech, padauk and mahogany.
The design offers an alternative to the traditional dynamic of a jewellery box containing and concealing earrings. Wooden blocks accentuate both the function and materiality of the jewellery. The earrings can be worn as a matching or mismatched pair.
The folding boat is a seamless folding, leisure boat made from a standard sheet of plastic, which can be assembled in less that five minutes. The boat was developed after a paper-folding workshop in which systems of creating various forms out of a single piece of material were introduced. The main advantages of the product are transportation, storage and assembly. Ideal for one or two people, the folding boat can be used in the urban environment (canals, ponds and lakes). Suitable for fisherman and campers; it also has the potential to be dispatched during disaster relief scenarios such as floods. The folding boat includes two cushions and two oars.
This project is a collaboration with Arno Mathies.
Max Frommeld completed new shop displays for the London based bag company Ally Capellino.
Founded in London in 1980 Ally Capellino’s products are marked with a distinctive use of durable, utilitarian yet elegant materials.
The brief for the window and interior displays required a system that would provide a complementary backdrop for the products. The displays also needed to enhance the Spring/Summer 2013 collection color range.
Versatility was a key feature in the designs for both Ally Capellino shops in London’s East and West End.
Bags and other products can now be displayed both in the window and in the interior of the shop. Tables and small stands for items such as wallets and gloves were provided.
A family of chairs.
Four different versions using the same system.
Materials: powder coated steel, ash, oak, ash veneered ply, HDPE
Philips invited students from the Bauhaus University in Weimar/Germany and the Royal College of Art in London to collaborate on a design and renovation project for their company headquarters in Aachen, Germany. Spaces were needed to showcase Lumiblade, Philip’s new OLED, Organic LED technology. The students were given an entire floor of the headquarters to refurbish along with a required program. After three weeks the students had transformed the space. From concept to construction, with a limited budget, the students designed and built: a lounge area, kitchen with a coffee station, material library, library, creative workshop, development workshop, gallery, one office, and a conference room.
A handrail in the Royal College of Art staircase motivated this modular, flat-pack shelving system. ‘Hose Clip Shelf’ is an extendible shelving system, which consists of three main components: wooden pole, steel bracket, and shelf board. The metal frames sit in a groove in the vertical poles and the hose clip connects the two elements. The quilted, magnetic curtain adds softness and provides closed compartments within the open framework.
Materials: Solid ash, Ash veneer ply, Steel brackets, Standard hose clips, PP wing nut
Flatpack stool manufactured by furniture company Nils Holger Moormann.
For online shop, retailers or general information please follow the link:
www.moormann.de
‘Instructions For Use’ presented new work by product designers Max Frommeld and Harry Thaler for Clerkenwell Design Week.
The pieces included in this exhibition were informed by a series of briefs with each brief comprised of a set of instructions. The instructions, developed by various design colleagues, provided starting points for the designers to work from.
This exhibition demonstrated the creative and unexpected ways instructions can be interpreted and the subsequent objects made by two distinct and well-respected designers.
Exhibition curated by Mariah Nielson
Opening: Monday 19 May, 6pm – 9pm
Cocktails: Wednesday 21 May, 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition: 19 – 24 May, 12pm to 7pm
Clerkenwell Gallery
20 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0DP
