Tom Dixon
Born in Sfax, Tunisia in 1959 TOM DIXON moved to England in 1963 and studied at the Chelsea School of Art, London and graduated in 1978. From 1983 he began designing furniture from objets trouves and a year later he welded scrap metal on the stage of the Titanic nightclub in London as ‘performance art’. In 1987 he established is own manufacturing company, Dixon PID, which later became known as Space, producing one off and limited edition furniture and lighting. His Kitchen chair (1987) and S chair (1988) were purposely distanced from technical perfection of industrial production, are typical of his work from this period. In 1989 his furniture and lighting designs were exhibited in a one man show at the Yves Gastou Gallery in Paris and attracted considerable press attention. During the 1990’s his work became less craft orientated and more sculptural in form. Among his most notable designs are his upholstered chair for Cappellini and his highly successful Jack light for another of his own manufacturing ventures, Eurolounge. His own company, TOM DIXON, also manufacturers the now iconic chrome and copper mirrorball lights and the more recent Beat lights.
His work was exhibited at the British Council in Cologne and in Beirut during the mid 1990’s and in 1998 TOM DIXON was appointed head of design at Habitat. Presently he continues to initiate new projects as an independent designer and as creative director of Artek, the Finnish furniture manufacturer founded by the architect Alvar Aalto in the 1930s.
