About Tom
 
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As Dixon's international reputation grew, he was approached by Italian furniture design company, Cappellini. He began to be taken seriously on the international stage as Cappellini worked to put some of his designs into major production. The "S" chair made Tom Dixon's name, evolving from early prototypes in his Creative Salvage days. It was initially woven with recycled rubber inner tubes, and then covered in rush, a material traditionally used for drop in seats. Cappellini were attracted by its sculptural form and amazing legless structure of bent steel frame. Launched by Cappellini with a vibrant felt upholstered covering in 1989, the "S" chair quickly reached iconic like status and now has a permanent place in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Dixon has since collaborated with Cappellini on many other projects, including the Bird Rocking chair, the Pylon table and chair and the tub chair to name a few.
"Honestly, I can't remember ever holding an ambition to be a designer. It just slowly came over me as I rejected notions of being an artist or, a craftsman. Even today I prefer the idea of being an industrialist.
My defining moment was probably arriving at Milan Linate in January 1989 to be greeted by the Cappellini driver holding up his 'Mr Dixon' card. Up until then I was blind to the potential of design vis a vis industry.
It's no exaggeration to say that in the Thatcherite early eighties, England was a cultural desert. Industry was collapsing and didn't see fit to support emerging ideas. The support we got certainly wasn't from places such as the design council - not nearly serious enough-not proper design..the exploding youth and style press was very encouraging ...but this was not the kind of help that we needed.
Luckily it was the very anglophile figure of Giulio Cappellini that provided the manufacturing capability and vision that opened up a whole new universe for me and many others. Here were some people that really believed that new ideas added value to whatever they were producing.
Suffice to say that I am still waiting for my first telephone call from a British manufacturer (!)" |
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