Design it your SELF™ – Experiment with generative furniture design, featuring the work of Norman Teague and Max Davis

SELF™ invites the public to experiment with generative furniture design in an interactive workshop experience, featuring the work of Norman Teague and Max Davis (both individual works as well as those co-designed with SELF™).

Guests can generatively design an 18″ x 18” side-table, defining the table-top shape, material, and color, and choose between sets of pre-defined leg types. Optionally, guests are welcome to purchase their design and have it produced out of plywood or powder-coated steel (Made in Chicago and shipped anywhere in the US). Learn more at designwithself.com.

SELF™ is a custom, made-to-order furniture line led by Marvell Lahens (ML), whose products are generatively designed by the consumer. SELF™ was conceived as an experiment in co-creation between brand and end-user: inviting, enabling, and empowering people to design the everyday objects they use and surround themselves with. Lahens is a Chicago-based designer focused on the materialization of the digital into the physical realm. He is particularly interested in the capacity of technology, and specifically, generative design, to invite end-users to partake in the design process.

Norman Teague is a Chicago-based designer and assistant professor whose practice focuses on using design as an agent for change and as a mechanism to empower black and brown communities. Teague’s work addresses the systematic complexity of urbanism and the culture of communities, specializing in custom furniture that delivers a personal touch to a specific user. Teague’s past projects have included consumer products, public sculpture, performances, and specially designed retail spaces. He works with common, locally sourced building materials and local fabricators to create objects and spaces that explore simplicity, honesty, and cleverness, and relate to the culture of the client and/or community.

Max Davis is a technologist, entrepreneur, designer, and maker from Oyster Bay, NY. Growing up keenly aware of the racial tensions and discriminatory redline practices in his hometown, Max is driven by both a passion for helping people bring their dreams to life, and a desire to make his work and his workspaces as inclusive as possible. After earning a BArch degree from Cornell University in 2005, focused on additive manufacturing and 3-D printing, he moved to Chicago in 2012, and in 2018, launched MAX DAVIS GROUP. Through MDG, Max trains and hires underrepresented Chicago residents in manufacturing and fabrication, with projects spanning installations at O’Hare Airport with artist Jina Valentine, millwork and custom furniture for Bronzeville Winery, and complete store buildouts for the likes of Chicago’s Saint Alfred’s. The group is looking forward to upcoming projects including within the Obama Presidential Center and the buildout of MDG’s very own innovation center on the South Side of Chicago.

Learn more at https://www.designwithself.com/.