Tom Dixon

Tom Dixon, who was born in Tunisia, moved to England at the age of four. His artistic career got off to an unusual start when, following two motorcycle accidents - one six months after starting at Chelsea Art School - he used much of his convalescence to learn welding. He then spent two years working evenings and nights in the entertainment business. This left him plenty of spare time during the day, which he used to do lots of welding. With his newly won skill, he turned his hand to using all conceivable weldable materials to create works of art and furniture. His sculptural items soon attracted attention, were featured at exhibitions, and brought new assignments. He became one of the best known avant-garde designers. One of his pieces - the now so famous S-chair - was discovered by Cappellini and quickly went into production. Today, the S-chair is something of an icon, and is on permanent exhibition at the Modern Museum of Art in New York. His association with Cappellini has seen several more products successfully launched.

In 1994, Dixon started ‘Eurolounge’ and this awakened his interest in plastic materials. His period as a designer of plastic products - primarily lamps - was also successful. His Jack Light has been internationally acclaimed and is now back in production.

Since setting up his own design company in 2002, Tom's designs including the Mirror Ball pendant large, medium and small, Copper Shade, Wingback Chair and Beat Light pendants have become synonymous with great British design. His passions still lie very much in the invention and engineering of a product, with each design evolving from these processes to create something functional and new.

Tom is anything but complacent and continues to move design forward, to rethink and revive the British furniture industry. New products are launched every year at the Milan International Furniture Fair, and this year is no different.

In April 2012 Tom Dixon presented 'Luminosity’– a showcase of new lamps, lights and shades – in a series of illuminated interconnected tunnels at MOST; the festival of design, innovation and culture held in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.

Using the latest technologies and materials drawn from the world of engineering, mathematics and nature, the new range of lighting includes tha Fin pendant in two forms, Fin Round and Fin Obround as well as the Fin table light.
The Lustre pendant collection which includes Lustre Flat, Lustre Round and Lustre Wedge the first stoneware object in the collection and is handmade in a dutch family-run factory established over 5-generations. The latest discovery in Tom Dixon's continued exploration of extraordinary metallic finishes, the iridescent sheen is created using a top-secret glaze containing minerals and precious metals. The end result is a striking colour change effect reminiscent of peacock feathers or oil slicks on water.

The handmade process results in a totally unique and unrepeatable finish for each individual object. No two shades look the same because the glaze fixes to the stoneware in an unpredictable way. This produces a wide spectrum of colour across each light, ranging from a pale lime to a deep bottle green.