Pair of Dolphin Tail Chairs by Mark Brazier-Jones

Before Mark Brazier-Jones became an internationally celebrated furniture and lighting designer, interior decorator and sculptor, he took part in live shows by the band Funkapolitan, dazzling concert audiences with his “performance welding art,” which saw him creating dynamic sculptures on stage during the 1980s. Since then, Brazier-Jones has produced provocative chandeliers, chairs and other ornate furnishings that draw on Art Nouveau, baroque and Rococo design and has amassed a star-studded clientele that includes actors, art collectors and rock music royalty.

Brazier-Jones was born in 1956 in New Zealand, then moved with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of 12. He later earned a BA in ceramic sculpture and, during the 1970s and early 1980s, found work in the nascent music video industry, designing and building sets for musicians Elton John, David Bowie and others.

While he was immersed in London’s warehouse party scene, Brazier-Jones met Tom Dixon and Nick Jones of Funkapolitan. They forged a friendship and invited Brazier-Jones on stage to create sculptures out of shopping carts and old cars as the band performed (Dixon also created sculptures from scrap metal onstage while performing with the band). In 1983, Brazier-Jones, Dixon and Jones started the Creative Salvage Group, later joined by French designer André Dubreuil. The collective’s first exhibition of welded art-furniture sold out and garnered immediate critical acclaim. 

After a few years, Brazier-Jones focused on solo design endeavors and moved to rural Hertfordshire, where he established his workshop and studio in a 16th-century barn. With the support of a small team, Brazier-Jones designs and produces everything from console tables and floor lamps to daybeds and mirrors. 

Brazier-Jones’s works are held in permanent public collections, including the Victoria and Albert, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Museum of Fine Arts and more. 

Find vintage Mark Brazier-Jones tables, lighting and seating on 1stDibs.