How Tom Dixon celebrates 20 years
By Sujata Burman
In a happy coincidence, LDF shares its anniversary year with Tom Dixon, who’s also celebrating 20 years in the industry. The British design studio kicked off the party in Milan in June 2022, at the Neoclassical Palazzo Serbelloni, and its second celebration took place on home turf.
Tom Dixon moved into his Coal Office HQ in King’s Cross in 2018, winning the London Design Medal the following year. For his anniversary year, the industrial brick building hosted a series of workshops, presentations and events; its canal-side location a scene-shift from the porticos of Milan. This is truly where the Tom Dixon worlds come together: his studio, shop and restaurant.
At TWENTY, the title of Tom Dixon’s travelling exhibition and collection, there’s plenty to reflect on. “A twentieth anniversary provides a moment to review, adapt, upgrade and rethink some of the designs that we have produced,” he says.
The studio has also returned to one of its oldest designs, the ‘Mirror Ball’ chandelier, recreating it anew with 100% recycled polycarbonate. There are also products made using mycelium (fast-growing fungi fibres), cork and eelgrass (a plant species that grows in shallow water). The new paper lanterns bring Tom Dixon full circle: “They are reminiscent of lamps that I made when I first started lighting mulberry paper, used in Japanese architecture.”