We pay homage to London-based designer Tom Dixon’s most influential pieces.
The Detail pages inside our 47th issue of est magazine put a lens on five famed designers and the products they’re known for. Globally renowned lighting, furniture and accessories designer Tom Dixon was part of this lineup, who last year celebrated 20 years of pioneering design. Considered a “restless innovator” by his peers, always engaging with new materials and ways of making, Tom’s collections continue to inspire and shift the design world.
This feature originally appeared in The Detail pages of est magazine issue 47: Creative State of Mind (pp. 202-213).
Park House by Mim Design and Pleysier Perkins, featuring the Tom Dixon Mass coat stand | Photography by Sean Fennessy
Mirror Image by Smac Studio featuring the Tom Dixon Fat dining chair | Photography by Anson Smart
Tom Dixon Cork Round Table
Cork is considered an incredibly sustainable, carbon-positive material; when harvested, the trees aren’t cut down, and their bark is carefully stripped away by hand. It can take nine to twelve years for the bark to regenerate, and in doing so, it absorbs CO2. This cork table is toasted to achieve its charred facade.
Tom Dixon Etch Puff
The perfect silver accent; the Etch Puff is reminiscent of an era marked by glitter and dance floors, with its detailed mirrored surface casting an intricate set of shadows.
Tom Dixon Pylon Chair
We named the Pylon chair a Future Classic by virtue of its masterful engineering and boundary-pushing design features. The chair’s three-millimetre steel rods ‘knit’ together to form a striking sculpture, and despite its delicate appearance, it can easily take a person’s weight.
Tom Dixon Tank Decanter
Created through the fusion of clear and solid black glass mouth-blown into elegant silhouettes, the Tank decanter forms a mysterious and indulgent piece of table-top architecture.
Tom Dixon Stone Led Wall light
Lights like the Stone Led wall light are a contrast to the eccentric pendant lights that Tom is known for. The light is underpinned by a simple, elegant form, expressed through tactile marble and smooth brass.
Tom Dixon Swirl Tables
The Swirl tables are made by mixing recycled marble residue with pigment and resin to create blocks of ‘swirl’ material. These blocks are then sawn, sliced and configured into unique, multi-dimensional sculptures.
Tom Dixon Baby Fat Model Armchair
Tom lived many ‘design lives’ before launching his studio in 2002. He designed the Baby Fat Model armchair in 1990 for eminent Italian brand Cappellini.
Tom Dixon Mass Coat Stand
Tom began his career in the 80s welding salvaged steel into radical furniture, which informs much of his work today. This sculptural coat stand is made from brass-clad wood.
Tom Dixon Fat Chair Series
Tom’s Fat chair series, which includes a dining chair (pictured), armchair and bar stool, embodies his belief that upholstery should be fat – it should be comfortable. The chairs’ rounded backrests, made from moulded foam, are designed to hug the body.
