A Chair for All: DIY Seating from Max Lamb

Have you ever taken a personality test and felt betrayed, like they've got you all wrong? "Don't they know that I'm really more of a rebel with a carefree spirit and not an uptight, over-organized workaholic?" I recently took such a test, adapted from Carl Jung's "Psychological Types," and discovered that I'm more likely to make something myself than buy it from a store. OK, so that is true.

And that is probably why I still have so little furniture in my apartment, because I can't make it myself. For awhile now, I've been mildly obsessed with London-based furniture designer Max Lamb's simple and smart designs. Take his Round & Round Table and Last Stool, for instance. So while perusing his online portfolio the other day, I discovered this thoughtful DIY chair project—complete with a PDF printout. No need for power tools for this one; Lamb wants you to build the chair with simple hand tools and joinery methods. The best part? You can feasibly construct a set of 8 chairs for under $100. Here's how to do it:

Above: Lamb designed the chair to be constructed using inexpensive building materials found at local hardware stores. "A design for everyone and anyone; mass production in fact, but production by the masses rather than machines," says Lamb.

Above: Thirty-one pieces of Smooth Planed Pine, a splinter-free softwood commonly used in the building industry: "The idea is to use a local or indigenous wood that is easily obtained, affordable, and sustainable."

Above: As Lamb says, "The dimension of wood required is 34mm by 18mm and typically available in lengths from 2 meters to 2.7 metrers. I bought seven lengths of 2.7-meter pine. The critical dimension is the 18mm by 34mm cross-section of the wood, as this dictates the width and depth of the DIY chair and also the spacing between the seat surface and backrest slats."

Above: "Alternatively, you can simply use my DIY Chair instructions as a template to design and build your own chair, table, stool. You can edit the design and assembly as much as you like. The possibilities are infinite."

Above: For a list of materials needs that you can print out and bring to the hardware store and further instructions, visit Max Lamb.

Looking to make all your own furniture? Make a Pipe Bed Frame, Instant Built-In Daybed, and Mod Desk and Shelving.