4PM SELF BUILD BY Michael Marriott
British Designer Michael Marriott and a Soap-Box Racer. Here he reveals the story behind his sporty customization of the 4PM Self Build chaise, which stems from a childhood hurtling down hills in self-made soapbox cars.
British Designer Michael Marriott and a Soap-Box Racer. Here he reveals the story behind his sporty customization of the 4PM Self Build chaise, which stems from a childhood hurtling down hills in self-made soapbox cars.
April 29 - 2022
Words by Mairi Beautyman
“I’m not interested in making what is defined by their looks,” states Michael Marriott, whose admiration for the functional and utilitarian extends to his own furniture designs. Born in London, the designer is still based there, working out of the capital city’s hip Dalston area in a studio showcasing – via walls and shelving – savvy integration of reclaimed materials.
There’s a race car feel to your 4PM Self Build.
I added a rear axle with small orange wheels and, following that addition, a front foot to make it level. There are also big stenciled numbers on each side. Swedish plywood is super nice, a soft wood but of a very high quality with many layers of veneer. When I first saw it, what struck me was this feel of soapbox cars, the wooden go-karts that people used to make. When I was a kid, we would make our own go-karts out of wooden vegetable boxes with, say, wheels taken from an old pram. Then it was less about winning and more about finding the steepest hill you could go down as fast as possible. At the bottom, we’d build a wall of cardboard boxes to crash through, like they’d do in the movies. I still have a scar today from one of those boxes, where a long rusty bolt punctured my arm.
How did you apply the numbers?
With this really beautiful stencil font called Container Regular. It was discovered on a shipping container in New York by Stephan Müller, also known as Pronto, a Swiss graphic designer that I know, and is very simple, angular, slab-like, and quite different to most stencil fonts in a subtle way that only a typographer would notice. I created number forms, taped them on, and then painted them with acrylic screen printing ink in fluorescent orange. The numbers are crisp, controlled, and quite big – 102 about 18 centimeters high.
"Today there are more and more products like iPhones that don’t want to be taken apart. How would you even start to look for a star-shaped screwdriver with a rounded point if you’d never learned to use a normal screwdriver? "
What impression do you hope to give with your 4PM Self Build chaise?
When people are more involved in the production of things, with a greater understanding of structure, tools, and hardware, they can become emboldened and, perhaps, realize that it’s possible to gain more control over their environment and lives. If everyone grew up knowing how to use a screwdriver, if kids were taught design technology, people might think about taking something apart and having a go at fixing it themselves. Today there are more and more products like iPhones that don’t want to be taken apart. How would you even start to look for a star-shaped screwdriver with a rounded point if you’d never learned to use a normal screwdriver? Implanting the seed that, ‘oh maybe I can fix this myself,’ is a fantastic skill to give, an enormous boon in the world. If you travel through life with that attitude, you’re going to have a better life and the world will be better as well.
" If you travel through life with that attitude, you’re going to have a better life and the world will be better as well. "
"When I was a kid, we would make our own go-karts out of wooden vegetable boxes with, say, wheels taken from an old pram. Then it was less about winning and more about finding the steepest hill you could go down as fast as possible."
Why numerals?
I have a love of typography and its power to transform – and a big, two-digit number in gaffer tape or with a fat marker pen or crayon on the side of anything converts it visually into a rally car. I often use reclaimed material in my work – for the ecological agenda but also for the fact that found wood tends to come with markings. Packing crates, tea chests, soapboxes, vegetable boxes...these often have really wonderful graphics. Maybe that’s a functionalist’s excuse for decoration? Stencils relate to that world, with an appropriate level of rawness that feels right on something that feels like a prototype. The number 95 has significance – and points to the beginnings of Massproductions – as that’s the year co-founder Chris Martin moved to Stockholm from the U.K.
"I’ve always been interested in bicycles, motorbikes, and cars – partly because I didn’t know how they were made. When I was about 10, my mum brought my brother and I to a Ford car factory in Essex "
I’d only been in workshops before, and seeing the scale of how things were made in a proper factory was awe-inspiring, with presses the size of a small house stamping out bonnets of a Ford Cortina every 20 seconds or so. It was really impressive, and something I’ve always been thankful for. Just like that, I knew I wanted to see more. A factory visit to see a new process? That’s what a designer lives for.
What other changes did you make to the original design of the 4PM Self Build?
I narrowed the seat and back a little, and slightly changed the shape and proportions of the head. I also added small radii to all the corners. The original design is quite slab-like – the seat and back both have angles but the foot and the head don’t. Since they are square-cut, I wanted to add slightly soft edges, without making it too refined. I also cut out classic sausageshaped hand-holds to move it about easily. Now the functionality is similar to a pool lounger, those ones you’d drag in and out of the sun or even down to the beach.
