Tom Dixon

British, 1959

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Born in Tunisia, Tom Dixon moved to England in 1963. He dropped out of the Chelsea School of Art to play bass in the band “Funkapolitan” before teaching himself first to weld, then to produce furniture. Tom rose to prominence in the mid-1980's as “the talented untrained designer with a line in welded salvage furniture." He set up a space to use as a creative think-tank and storefront for himself and other young designers. By the late 1980s he was working for the Italian furniture giant Cappellini for whom he designed the iconic ‘S’ chair. In the 1990s, Dixon was a household name in the design field. He designed Jack, his polypropylene "sitting, stacking, lighting thing,” for his own company Eurolounge, which became an icon of the decade. Tom was appointed Head of Design by Habitat in 1998, where he later served as Creative Director until 2008. He was the public face of a collective team responsible for rejuvenating the Habitat brand, maintaining Terence Conran's dream of enriching everyday life through simple, modern design and creating a shopping experience that is both theatrical and intimate. In 2000, Tom's work was formally awarded OBE by Her Majesty the Queen. Tom’s works have been acquired by some of the world’s most famous museums and are now in permanent collections across the globe including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Museums of Modern Art New York and Tokyo and Centre Beaubourg.