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MAXZ

@zdzmax

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Objects & Furniture with narrative

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1 Tool 1 Stool by Max Zhu (@zdzmax)

Developed as part of the One Tool One Stool brief at the Royal College of Art in London, the project restricts designers to a single tool and a strict set of constraints: no nails, no glue, no adhesives of any kind, and a final piece of approximately 40 cm in height, strong enough to bear the weight of an average adult.

Working solely with a handheld angle grinder, Zhu chose steel wire and mesh as his material system, binding and securing the structure through wire alone. The piece tests the load bearing limits of wire mesh, a material typically used for reinforcement rather than as a primary structural element, and channels the tension between constraint and creativity that defines the brief itself. What appears delicate at first glance is, through accumulation and binding, transformed into a stable, weight bearing form.

The stool was exhibited at the Royal College of Art, Battersea, in 2024, and later at the London Design Festival in 2025.

#industrial

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Shanghai based designer and artist Dongze Zhu (Max) explores the emotional and cultural tension between industrialisation and nature through sculptural furniture and collectible design. Working with materials such as perforated steel, concrete and industrial coatings, he transforms fragments of urban environments into poetic objects that carry traces of memory, erosion and place.

Billboard Series – Origin marks the beginning of the Series.

Constructed from perforated steel sheets and basic connectors, it reflects the earliest form of urban functional structures—billboards and construction fences in their initial state: lightweight, ventilated and easily assembled. The work captures a moment before weathering and intervention begin to reshape it, preserving the foundational visual language that later develops throughout the series.

@zdzmax

#contemporarydesign #collectibledesign #designshanghai #designinnovation #emergingdesigners

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Object 74, a group show of designer-makers from the Royal College of Art who are led by materiality and intuitive methods of making to reveal meaning through form.

For @l_d_f_official as part of @shoreditchdt.

19th - 21th Sept 2025

I am grateful to have shown my piece ‘Handi Chair’ alongside earlier works that inspired my latest series ‘Pot Dialogics’. And I’m super thankful to have shown alongside talented talented friends that I’ve worked with over the past year, who I’ve learned from, and who have shaped my practice. Please do check out their work! 🙏

Photo Credits: Jonathan Prime

@natalie.dubrovska
@maximlester
@sofiastudiodesign
@caden_hao
@designed_by_arthur
@epic_kin_designs
@studiobriterin
@alexandrepm.studio
@reaching6284
@zdzmax

@object.74

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More LDF highlights 🪑🫖

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Introducing Max Zhu! @zdzmax

Max works at the intersection of design and sculpture, using industrial materials to reconstruct forgotten urban landscapes. His practice explores identity, memory, and emotional connections to place.

@royalcollegeofart @shoreditchdt @l_d_f_official

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Join us for the show!

19-21 September
Opening drinks 19th from 6pm

74 Tabernacle Street
London
EC2A 4EA

@l_d_f_official @shoreditchdt

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Object 74 - a collective of furniture designers from MA Design Products - presents a three-day exhibition for LDF in Shoreditch!
Furniture, objects, experiments, and ideas shown as a living process.

Opening night drinks: Friday 19 Sept, 6–9:30pm.

👀 Come see, think, and leave your own reflections.

@l_d_f_official @shoreditchdt

Exhibiting designers:
@studiobriterin
@alexandrepm.studio
@maximlester
@natalie.dubrovska
@caden_hao
@designed_by_arthur
@reaching6284
@jasmineprimedesigns
@sofiastudiodesign
@epic_kin_designs
@zdzmax

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Another Christmas charity concert
最爱这首🥰好暖好甜好好磕
#上海彩虹室内合唱团 #choir

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🔔🎄𝗠𝙚𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀🎄🔔
The BEST EVER…😭
🇬🇧LDN ↔️ 🇯🇵 TYO

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I remember Oxford because of your drawing. Anywhere! Thank you Max!
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#youalreadyartist#iknow
#oxford#luxembourg#daily#vsco#vscocam

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