From striking oversized geodesic luminaires to modern furniture with a whimsical twist, Tom Dixon’s creations have been a fixture on the American design scene yet didn’t have much of a home base in the U.S. to show its wares in person. (New Yorkers in particular had to wait until their city’s ICFF trade fair to get a glimpse of new intros, although Tom Dixon briefly occupied an intimate space here last year.) Now the British brand has not one but two retail spots that opened within weeks of each other, catering to an increasingly design-savvy American market.
The Shop, Los Angeles
This bicoastal Brit invasion started this summer with the first retail store in Los Angeles. Simply called “The Shop,” it’s really a joint venture between Tom Dixon and fashion brand Curve, occupying 7,000 square feet in the Culver City shopping and foodie destination known as Platform (where other residents include Aesop, Freda Salvador, SoulCycle and Van Leeuwen).
A plethora of Dixon’s wide range of lighting products — including his quirky misshapen blown-glass Melt and intricately patterned Etch sheet-metal pendants — illuminate the furnishings and fashion space below while sculptural items like his Mass coat stand and Screw tables are not only for show and sale, but also perfect as retail display fixtures.
Last month in New York City, Tom Dixon moved from a small single-floor space to grander digs — a four-story building on Howard Street in SoHo. True to the neighborhood’s heritage, the store’s environment is urban and raw yet sophisticated with a palette mostly of existing wood, original brick and exposed, lofty ceilings.
Tom Dixon New York; all photography by Emily Andrews
Open to both the public and trade, the store features contract and wholesale business services in the basement space where interior designers and architects can view and touch material samples, prototypes and more.
Dixon has had plenty of activity on his home turf, as well, most notably a collaboration with Vicar Andrew Baughen of St. James Church in London’s Clerkenwell. For the annual Clerkenwell Design Week back in May, Dixon transformed the 17th-century church into a temporary co-working space and restaurant — a sign of today’s times and adaptive reuse — melding the building’s picturesque and historic architectural details with his contemporary furnishings and lighting.
The Church
More recently, the city’s famed The Strand gained a new, chic restaurant and bar with interiors by Design Research Studio under the creative direction of Tom Dixon. The venue, Bronte, opened a few weeks ago and boasts an eclectic design mix: The site’s existing traditional elements and neutral palette meet bold lighting concepts and vibrant, contrasting furniture such as green-leather booths and a pink-concrete bar.
Bronte