London Design Festival rolls around every year, and here at APM we can’t help but find ourselves immersed in the explosion of design culture, product collaborations and trend inspiration it created. The 2021 calendar filled with ‘in person’ events seemed more exciting than ever- and one that stood out for us was a breakfast insight with non-other than design icon Tom Dixon…APM team members Sam and Zoe were lucky enough to attend…
Who exactly is Tom Dixon?
Tom Dixon is an influential designer within Interiors, key career facts to note-
Dixon established his studio ‘Tom Dixon’ back in 2002- a British Luxury design brand that is now sold in 90 countries, with showrooms in influential design cities around the world.
Tom brands himself as an innovator, starting his career welding furniture. This led to his studio manifesto of creating ‘extraordinary spaces’ with innovative furniture that meets both form and function. Read more about Tom’s career highlights here.
The Coal Office located at Coal Drop Yard, Kings Cross is now Dixon’s headquarters and where the designer presented his talk, ‘Materiality’ for London Design Festival in 2021. (Older ex-London party people (Cat) may recognise it as the former home of The Cross nightclub):
The new focus – Materiality
Materiality is the focus of Dixon’s latest collections- for him, this is the notion of stripping back to the essential components of an item, focusing on the material and not a particular trend. It’s about understanding how to use the natural beauty of a material to create a feature of the product- both practicality and aesthetic. Using a raw material such as Cork, can determine the shape, usage, aesthetic and even smell, of the furniture collection. Tom takes direction from the material, instead of designing the form and then selecting a suitable material.
Dixon explained that more than ever, it is design itself that is directing the brand and outcomes of the company.
The new collection
Dixon explained that the latest furniture collection was inspired by going back to his innovator routes to inspire ‘all or nothing’ interiors that have simplified manufacture processes with sustainability in mind. Key business decisions influenced this new wave of design:
Expanding on the various products and designs that make up the Tom Dixon brand, exploring further what they can offer within various sectors in interiors whilst remaining in keeping with their brand ethos- see the new and exciting Vitra x Tom Dixon for the ‘Liquid’ Sanitaryware collection.
He haa a renewed focus on sustainability, including a relocation of their main manufacturing back to their factory in Dorset, reducing their carbon footprint and supply risk (amplified by Brexit and Covid).
Touring the collections throughout the Coal Office following the talk, it is clear Dixon had focussed on combining his new method of design with longevity of the product.
All lamps throughout his core collection such as Melt or Press are LED- the Press collection.
Designed to mirror prisms of light, the fitting is even dishwasher proof to make the cleaning process for the consumer more accessible, making the light longer lasting.
Tom is here explaining the longevity of the Press collection
The latest furniture collection ‘Cork’ is a key display of how the material is at the focus of form and aesthetic. Here he has burnt the cork during the extraction process (Dixon uses cork waste from flooring, cork boards and wine bottles) to create a darker richer colour, creating a simple rounded design that is both modern and timeless for a range of interiors- classic yet innovative. The collection displays the natural qualities of Cork such as its ability of sound absorption as well as being a carbon positive material.
The Breakfast
For a designer that has built a design studio based on creating furniture for the interiors of tomorrow, the breakfast insight displayed that by stripping back design processes, the Dixon studio has identified how to innovate whilst utilising the material itself. This has meant simplifying methods of manufacturing and becoming more centred on the needs of interiors today.
Dixons’ design in 2021 now emulates the needs of consumers he attracts- the want for a luxury innovative design yet with a sustainable focus. Here at APM we have always loved what Dixon’s studio achieves but now more than ever, we are inspired by a designer who pushes design boundaries whilst using the basics of a material to be sustainable.
APM team-member Sam very much enjoyed the talk + displays!
If you are thinking about a renovation of your property in London or Brighton, don’t hesitate to get in touch now!