In the increasingly diverse and complex field of design, Max Costley has become adept at finding the overlapping ground between the varied practices of the profession.
From product to interior design, interaction to furniture design, each of his projects combine a multifaceted approach to a problem. As a versatile creative, he is both adaptable and a skilled ‘solution finder’ with a passionate interest in providing results that are highly functional, often with a hint of humour, and with one eye on sustainability throughout the process.
Having spent most of his adult life in a variety of countries across Europe - UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Germany - Max has picked up numerous creative influences and languages. Over the years, inspiration has been found variously from the industrial to the artisanal through such established designers as Jean Prouvé, Dieter Rams, Sebastian Cox and Sato Oki (Nendo).
Following his first class honours degree in French literature from the University of Kent, he worked in several fields such as music and the Arts, then graphic and furniture design, before attending the Nuova Academia di Belli Arti (NABA) in Milan to study interior and product design. Here he would go on to attain an additional first degree honours (or ‘cum laude’), further developing his skills as a designer.
It was at NABA that he would meet Giorgio Biscaro, with whom he collaborated on a continuing project commissioned by the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) designing furniture for producers in the region of Muar, Malaysia.
Max is currently working on a design collective start-up and a book on design utopias, but is always on the look-out for new and exciting collaborations.
