Tom Dixon Seating
Artistic, innovative and entrepreneurial, the self-taught creator Tom Dixon has been a contemporary design-world maverick for more than three decades. From his revolutionary art-meets-design projects of the 1980s and throughout his dynamic and influential career as a designer of furniture, housewares and interiors, the only consistent note has been change. Dixon’s chief fascination is exploring new materials and new ways of constructing things.
Dixon was restless even as a young man. He enjoyed ceramics and drawing in high school but later dropped out of the Chelsea School of Art in London. While repairing his motorcycle in 1983, Dixon learned how to weld and took to the craft. He began making what he has called semi-functional objects from scrap metal (sometime as performance art in a nightclub), then formed a furniture studio–cum–think tank called Creative Salvage. Amid the ritzy excess of the ’80s, Dixon — along with designers such as Tejo Remy and Ron Arad — forged a new, attention-getting aesthetic with furniture made from found materials.
In 1987, Dixon began working for the Italian furniture manufacturer Cappellini, which put his best-known design, the slender, sinuous S chair, into production, followed by such pieces as the Pylon chair (1992), a wire lattice that resembles electrical transmission towers. Starting in the 1990s, Dixon expanded his interests rapidly. He started a company to manufacture the stackable plastic Jack light; joined the housewares retailer Habitat as creative director; and breathed new life into Artek, the venerable Finnish maker that Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino helped cofound. Since 2002, Dixon has run his namesake company fabricating furnishings from novel materials like brass foil-clad wood and “vacuum-metalized” glass.
The hallmark of Dixon’s design is his captivation with the process of creating pieces such as chairs, tables and lighting fixtures. “A kind friend once described me as a ‘vertebrate designer,’” Dixon has said. “That means that I design from the bones outwards and am not really interested in surface.”
Classic Dixon pieces are those that exhibit the manner of their making — from his early work in welded scrap metal to the woven rattan seats and backs of his Fat chair for Cappellini. There are two ways to approach Dixon designs: as a collector, or as a decorator. The former will seek Dixon’s one-off and limited edition works and prototypes. These historical artifacts carry high prices that range from around $8,000 to $50,000 and above. Those more interested in a dynamic look will find that manufactured Dixon designs — such as his Jack lights or his Melt pendant — can be found for prices that range from about $300 to $1,000. Either way, as you will see on 1stDibs, the designs of Tom Dixon have a singular allure that makes them a noteworthy element in any room.
Early 2000s British Mid-Century Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
1990s British Post-Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Rope
21st Century and Contemporary English Brutalist Tom Dixon Seating
Polystyrene
Early 2000s British Tom Dixon Seating
Plastic
1980s Vintage Tom Dixon Seating
Metal
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tom Dixon Seating
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary English Scandinavian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary English Scandinavian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Metal
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
Early 2000s British Bauhaus Tom Dixon Seating
Steel, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Leather, Birch, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Wood
1980s British Post-Modern Vintage Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Leather, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Wood
Early 2000s American Tom Dixon Seating
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
1990s English Post-Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Polish Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Wool, Foam
21st Century and Contemporary Lithuanian Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Leather, Wood
20th Century English Mid-Century Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Beech, Oak, Upholstery
1980s English Modern Vintage Tom Dixon Seating
Steel
2010s British Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Velvet
Late 20th Century British Tribal Tom Dixon Seating
Iron
2010s British Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Bouclé
Early 2000s British Futurist Tom Dixon Seating
Polystyrene
1990s British Tom Dixon Seating
Metal, Steel
2010s Lithuanian Tom Dixon Seating
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Tom Dixon Seating
Velvet
Tom Dixon seating for sale on 1stDibs.
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- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Tom Dixon originally created the S chair in the mid-1980s. The chair is characterized by its welded steel frame and woven rush upholstery. Shop a collection of Tom Dixon’s designs from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.