Child's play: Designer employs young workforce

The Netherlands – Dutch designer Lucas Maassen has created a range of furniture with the help of his three sons, aged 7–9.

Maassen employed his sons to paint a series of chairs, mirrors and cabinets, paying them €1 for each completed piece. In accordance with Dutch child labour laws, working time was limited to three hours a week, so the pieces have a deliberately rushed, unfinished aesthetic.

‘A lot of stuff around us is made by kids in Asia and poorer countries,’ explains Maassen. ‘For the Lucas Maassen & Sons project I tried to make the limitations of children visible, and use it as a style.’

For similar examples of the DIY aesthetic in interiors, fashion and product design, see LS:N Global’s Design It Yourself design direction.