Cooper Hewitt says...
Born in Tunisia in 1959, Dixon moved with his family to England in 1963. Educated in London, he dropped out of the Chelsea School of Art to play bass in the band “Funkapolitan” before teaching himself first to weld, a skill he then used to produce furniture. Dixon rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as “the talented untrained designer with a line in welded salvage furniture." By the late-1980s, he was working for the Italian furniture giant Cappellini for whom he designed the iconic ‘S’ chair, and example of which is in Cooper Hewitt's collection (2006-4-2).
By the 1990s, Dixon was known in the design field. Affiliated with the home furnishings retailer, Habitat, in 1998 he became the firm’s Head of Design, and later served as Creative Director until 2008. While at Habitat, Dixon also developed his own furniture and product design business. Officially opening Tom Dixon Studio in London in 2002, the company launched with a range of furniture made from extruded plastic. The result was a series of uniquely shaped chairs and other furniture with a wire-like aesthetic. In 2007, Dixon established Design Research Studio, dedicated to designing interiors, installations and architectural displays. Dixon launched his first textile collection, Super Texture, in 2017.
Achieving accolades throughout his career, in 2001 Dixon was awarded an OBE for his service to British design. Dixon’s works are in the permanent collections of museums across the globe, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Centre George Pompidou, Paris.
