never forget the beat!

tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net

Introducing the beat lights!

The Tom Dixon beat light is one I’ll never forget. When I first started working in interior design as an assistant, one of the first projects I worked on had a powder room with beautiful salvaged moroccan tiles as a feature. I had to pick a pendant light for the room. I picked the beat and the client accepted it, it worked perfectly with the tiles! One of my first inputs into an interior!

tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
The beat light makes such a great statement!

I love the hand beaten brass against the black exterior.

design research studio - www.designresearchstudio.net/
shoreditch house
the beat lights in action!

Tom Dixon is a self-taught, innovative furniture, lighting & product designer. His lighting is spectacular, so here are a few of my fav designs!

tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
pressed glass pendants - 2009/2010
I love glass pendents; I particularly like these as they include imperfections in the glass. Those imperfections would create a wonderful effect with the light.
tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
copper shade 2005
Such great materials used in the collections, brass, glass, copper!

design museum - www.designmuseum.org/design/tom-dixon
Eurolounge Jack lights 1997
An oldie, but a goodie!
tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
punch light
This light has been described as referencing a pleated lampshade.

The angled pieces of polished steel add a much more industrial element!

tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
pipe pendant
A huge cluster of the black/gold pendants would look fantastic in a bar or restaurant!

design research studio - www.designresearchstudio.net/
(tom dixon is creative director of design research studio, a interiors and architectural practice)shoreditch house
I love the simplicity of the table, with those huge pendants above!

I was reading an interview with Tom Dixon on the the UK Design Museum website, and I found the response below really interesting. It reminds me of designers like Ray and Charles Eames, where exploration of materials and function come first. I wonder if that is why the designs stand the test of time!

Q. How would you describe the way you work?

A. Some days I work as a designer, but the bits that really interest me are the invention, engineering and marketing rather than the actual process of designing. I think that effective designers tend to be interested in the whole chain. Robin Day, Verner Panton and all those people really felt that they were going to change everything through design. It’s a very humbling way to look at it. I think designers now are much more concerned about the shape of the object and their own personal evolution within it. And I think a good designer is somebody who manages to put together all the elements – an understanding of materials and a belief in improving functionality – then puts the shape on last as a result of all those experiments. I’m a designer very occasionally. I tend to be on the periphery, occasionally popping out a product which is designed mainly through an interest in materials and technologies.

Excerpt from interview - www.designmuseum.org/design/tom-dixon

tom dixon – www.tomdixon.net
blow lights
An energy saving light, designed to accommodate low-energy compact fluorescent light bulbs. Tom Dixon gave away 1000 in 2007 at the London Design Festival to promote the use of CFL's.