As part of his "Around the World in 90 Days" three-month tour and to complement the opening of his NYC store on Greene Street in Soho, Tom Dixon unveils the Black collection for the first time in the U.S. market. The color and lacquer finish for the collection takes inspiration from traditional Japanese furniture and Bauhaus interiors.
The copper pendants and lights, meanwhile, are transformed by the application of glossy black with a high-shine silver interior to produce a greater light quality than before. Lamps in the collection also receive a layer of translucent pigment.
The Black collection comes on the heels of Dixon's Blue and Silver collections, and celebrates the brand's move to a bigger NYC space and celebrates their new permanent showroom space at 25 Greene Street.
Visit the new space at the location below and continue reading for a Q&A with the designer himself.
Tom Dixon 25 Greene Street New York, New 10013
1. What was the main inspiration behind the Black collection?
Everybody occasionally gets drawn to the darker things in life. We wanted to see our simple shapes in the most minimalist, most sophisticated of states and black has this effect. The glossiness adds an element of fetishistic glamour, but has also often been used historically for furniture as in lustrous Japanese lacquer or in 18th century France.
2. Many of the pieces looks to be unique. How are these pieces made?
You are probably referring to the Melt lamp which is a highly sophisticated blow-molded, vacuum-metalized and then tinted lacquer industrially made product that still manages to look alive and unique thanks to its incredibly complicated internal reflections.
3. What kind of interiors do you imagine these pieces being used in?
Small rooms and big rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms, hotels bars and restaurants. In fact anywhere that needs a bold and crisp silhouette in a directional color.
4. Will we see another IKEA collaboration and if so will designs in a similar vein be available in the collection?
We are talking about doing more, but honestly, if we do something it will not be in a similar vein, it will be absolutely completely different. In the meantime, we are still adding to that collection – a double bed just arrived.
5. The majority of our coverage focuses on style. Do you think design and interiors are a natural extension of an interest in fashion style?
Some of my earliest customers were fashion people – who are always the first to seek out something new- Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, Raf Simons. I was always influenced and interested by the speed of development and the excitement that comes with fashion and also the central role of design in that business. That said, while we are keen to be stylish and up to date, the nature of how you are able to buy and change interior design means that it is a completely different rhythm, a more stable one which also suits us well.
6. What should consumers be on the look out for when buying their first furniture pieces?
All furniture choices build a home design toolkit and can serve as the building blocks of various future interior design aesthetics. At Tom Dixon we try to design in longevity and try and make our furniture lighting as center-pieces for interior design to be built around.
7. Which design or architecture movements have informed your approach to design over the years?
Brutalism and '60s radical architecture, African carving, Arte Povera, the Kitchen sink movement, the '20s, the '70s, British figurative sculpture, abstract expressionism, psychedelia, the constructivists and so many more.
8. What other industries or creative fields influence your approach to design?
Fields such as sculpture and engineering, architecture, cooking, painting, custom motorcycles and of course music – specifically punk, disco and gospel. However, my approach and inspirational catalysts have often been from such a wide range of manufacturing and craft techniques: weaving, welding, carving and ceramics.
