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State of Design: Tom Dixon in Melbourne
| The State of Design festival wound up tonight, with the last event a talk by UK designer Tom Dixon. Dixon’s work first caught my eye when I was a student. I loved his plastic creations such as the ‘Jack’ lamp an iconic nineties design that functioned as part–lamp, part–seat, part–stackable creation that just looked cool. It was interesting to hear how Dixon’s career has unfolded. His DIY punk inspired ethic can be seen in his early work, where an interest in welding led him to create furniture out of pieces of scrap and recycled metal. In a sea of Bauhaus and Memphis inspired designs, his work stood out, attracting the attention of Italian Design Manufacturer Cappellini. Since then, his career has taken a number of different trajectories, including head of design and later Creative Director at Habitat. But what really came to mind in the talk was the importance not only of being creative in your design, but also in being creative in the way these designs are brought to the public. One recent example, are Dixon’s polystyrene chairs — sponsored by a manufacturer of polystyrene, at this year’s London Design Festival, 500 chairs were displayed in Trafalgar Square and then given away to the public. Everyone loves something for nothing right? So, the event was a big success in getting Dixon’s work out there, not to mention attracting great publicity for his sponsor. Despite this brilliant piece of marketing, I was a little bit miffed. Was this the same man who in 2000, wrote the book ‘Rethink’ where he questioned the endless reinventing of the wheel and asked ‘But how many more shapes do we need a chair to be?” Not to mention, chairs made for a one–off event out of a material that screams ‘throw me out!’. Is there a designer out there who wouldn’t sell their soul?! Anyhow, the State of Design festival is over for another year. If you’re in Melbourne you can still see ‘Freestyle: Australian Design for Living’at the Melbourne Museum until February 07. It‘s a slickly presented exhibition showcasing the work of a number of Australian product designers in recent years. Sure, many of them may not have the celebrity status of Tom Dixon, but there are some great Aussie designers, such as Stefan Lie and Khai Liew whose work is arguably just as impressive. Check them out. |
Posted by Lisa at 1:42 PM
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