Designer Spotlight: Why We Love Tom Dixon
Posted on November 01 2015
This month, we’re celebrating all things modern design, thanks to The Design Event, our semi-annual sale happening now at cheerhuzz.com. We’ll be highlighting pieces that have made design history, new and buzzworthy introductions and the stories behind contemporary work from all over the globe.
Here’s a look at our favorite Tom Dixon lighting designs:
Etch Web Pendant: Sure, it makes beautiful shadows when lit, and a minimal-but-blingy statement when not. But math nerds, this pendant’s design is just for you. Tom Dixon has long loved exploring mathematics and geometry in his designs, and this irregular pattern is repeated 60 times onto photo-etched sheets of metal, resulting in a total sphere.
Beat Lights White: The Beat Light collection has seen several iterations–it’s original black and brass finish, plus gray and all brass–but we love the cool, crisp white against the shiny brass interior best. The silhouettes have become instantly recognizable, but we love the subtle, light finish with just a wink of metallic coming through.
Tom Dixon’s resume might give you a bit of a complex. A young Dixon first found his creative stride in pottery and life drawing during his schooling years. He later entered the music biz as a professional bass guitarist in a disco band. Then, he uncovered his skill in welding working in a car body repair shop in South London. And soon after, a simple doodle of a chicken turned into an idea for a chair, which led to the now-famous S-Chair for Cappellini, which has a home in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
It’s clear Tom Dixon was born to be a creator. After the S-Chair’s success in the late 1980s, Tom Dixon spent the next decade and a half designing for various companies, serving as a design leader, and even receiving a medal for services to design at Buckingham Palace. And finally, in 2002, the Tom Dixon brand was born in London, with ambitions to revitalize the British furniture industry with a new take on design. We’ll go ahead and say he succeeded–several of Tom Dixon’s designs quickly shot up to world-famous status, and every year they introduce fresh new pieces that never fail to surprise and delight. The company has now forayed into interior design, a gifts and accessories line and even a partnership with Adidas to create design-driven kicks.
And if you’re wondering whatever happened to that disco band, fear not—Dixon still channels his talents into music, as he did in his early years. Here’s Dixon rocking out with his band at the Museum of Modern Art during NYC’s Design Week:
But, illumination enthusiasts as we are, we especially love the edge that Tom Dixon brings to his lighting designs. They’re the perfect blend of raw and rugged materials with clean silhouettes. Not to mention, these are light fixtures with a story behind them—unique inspirations and purposeful production that adds up to a look that has become quintessential Tom Dixon.
