New Work: Max Lamb booklet

Domenic Lippa and his team were commissioned by the London Design Festival and HSBC Private Bank to create a publication to celebrate the completion of a special piece by designer Max Lamb for the bank’s St James’s office.

The publication charts the journey of the piece, a plaster bench called the Vermiculated Ashlar, from concept to completion. The Vermiculated Ashlar is to be installed at 78 St James’s Street.

The design team worked closely with Max Lamb in order to capture his unique creative process. The piece started with moulds being taken of the vermiculated stonework from the lower stories of the building. The moulds were used at the base of a large box which was filled with plaster to create a monolithic plain plaster block on top of the vermiculated ashlar plinth. Lamb then took a hammer and chisel to chip away the plaster to reveal the bench beneath. The final two person seat Lamb hopes will be used as a place for connection.

The debossed cover of the publication replicates the vermiculated stonework of the plinth and the monochrome grey and cream paper refers to the plaster in both its polished and rough form. The pace of the interior of the booklet is varied through the use of large and small images and type referencing the scale of the finished piece.

A film recording the creation of this piece was shown at the unveiling on 23 September in the V&A.

Project Team: partner-in-charge and designer, Domenic Lippa; Jeremy Kunze, designer; Kevin Purdy, production; Kate Shepherd, project manager.