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British designer Max Lamb, who impressed Brad Pitt so much during Design Miami/Basel that the Hollywood star picked up several of his works, is now showing his contemporary furniture collection at his first US exhibition at the  Johnson Trading Gallery in New York.

The exhibition features new commissions Lamb has crafted from New York bluestone, along with a retrospective of important limestone, pewter, bronze, copper, wool felt, and polystyrene objects, demonstrating why his work has captured the attention of the international design community. A series of films will offer an understanding of Lamb’s design philosophy and processes. The exhibition will be on view until November 7, at Johnson Trading Gallery, 490 Greenwich Street, New York City.

One of a group of dynamic young British designers who are leading the pack internationally, Lamb was featured as one of four Designers of the Future at Design Miami/ Basel 2008. He is known for the creative vision he brings to contemporary furniture design, for his high level of technical skill, and for his drive, as he explains, “to explore and re-contextualize both traditional and unconventional materials, celebrating their inherent qualities, and to reconsider the function of all objects.”

The new works in this exhibition, evolving from his previous collection ‘Exercises in Seating’, a consistent theme throughout his career, exemplify Lamb’s skills as a designer, a craftsman, and an artist. For this exhibition, Max has created new works in Delaware Bluestone. A naturally blue sediment stone with a strong historic connection to New York, it is visible throughout the city’s sidewalks and architecture. Bluestone, found predominantly in the Catskill Delta, was created over 350 million years ago from run-off from the Acadian Mountains, which covered the area where New York City now exists.

Lamb travelled from London to the Catskills to search for suitable and inspiring pieces of stone from which to carve furniture. He collected stones from four bluestone quarries and worked directly with one, combining hand-carving and machine-cutting techniques to create a collection of chairs, tables, benches and stools. His previous stone work in limestone and sandstone, exhibited at Design Miami/ Basel 2008, along with early experiments in carving Cornish granite, advanced his well-honed skill set and his understanding of how to work with this heavy and difficult material.

Lamb notes, “My recent work has been very preoccupied with processes and materials, and alternative ways in which these can be manipulated, exploring the potential of local skill-based industries, combining skilled hand-craft techniques with native materials, and sometimes juxtaposing these with digital processes and the high-tech.”

The exhibition runs until November 7, 2008 at Johnson Trading Gallery, 490 Greenwich Street, New York, tel: 212 925 1110