About Tom Dixon Studio
Tom Dixon is a distinguished British design brand, renowned for its innovative furniture and lighting. The brand's eponymous founder, Tom Dixon, began his foray into design somewhat unconventionally—initially dropping out of art school and playing bass in a band before teaching himself welding and eventually becoming involved in furniture design.
Dixon's career took a pivotal turn in the 1980s when he began crafting furniture from salvaged materials. His work captured the spirit of the times with its raw, industrial aesthetic, distinguishing him from his contemporaries. In 1991, Dixon was appointed head of design at Habitat and later became its creative director, revitalizing the brand with his unique designs.
In 2002, he established his own brand, "Tom Dixon," which quickly gained international acclaim. The brand is celebrated for its daring approach to design and its exploration of different materials and techniques. Iconic pieces like the Mirror Ball, the Copper Shade, and the S Chair have become synonymous with modern British design.
Today, Tom Dixon's brand extends beyond furniture to include a wide range of products, from lighting to accessories, all marked by his distinctive use of form and materials. His work has not only shaped contemporary interiors but continues to influence the broader scope of design globally.
"It takes an element of recklessness, which a lot of people struggle with."
Tom Dixon
The Process
Melt lights are created through a process of blow moulding and vacuum metallisation to achieve melted orbs with abundant and unusual luminosity. Over several years we have worked with some forerunners of German engineering and manufacturing to develop these techniques and produce lamps that create the latest in reflectivity and transparency.
Through the use of injection blow moulding, a melted plastic polymer moulding is injected into a massive precision-made steel tool, inflated with compressed air and then cooled.
The mirror finish of each pendant is then created by the highly technical process of vacuum metallisation. The polycarbonate shell is secreted in the interior of a metallic chamber, the air sucked out, and an immense electrical charge channelled through. With a bang and pop a thin strip of copper foil is vaporised into a fine mist of metallic particles that settles across the interior.
For Melt they have taken vacuum thin film deposition to a new level with half metallised surfaces, creating an extraordinary optical effect that reflects and enhances its environment. This half-mirrored effect often seen on a smaller scale in fashion sunglasses or gangster windscreens creates a hyper reflective surface finish when turned off but transforms into a translucent colour when switched on.
