The Alchemist, UK
The Alchemist is a well-established cocktail and restaurant chain with 20 venues across the UK. DesignLSM was responsible for creating the new interiors for The Alchemist’s Spinningfields location in Manchester.
Speaking with Karen Taylor, Design Director at DesignLSM, darc finds out more about their design intentions and stunning decorative lighting pieces selected for The Alchemist's moody and atmospheric destination in the north of the UK.
Thanks to the design firm’s extensive experience in hospitality design, The Alchemist team approached DesignLSM to transform and refresh their site located in the heart of Manchester’s Spinningfields.
“The brief included achieving greater operational efficiencies and updating the aesthetic to create an engaging and dynamic guest experience that transitioned through the day and better blended the bar and dining spaces,” says Taylor. “From concept to completion, the project was a very quick turnaround; we were only on site for one month!
“Usually we work with lighting designers, but for this project we successfully managed this in-house, working in collaboration with the manufacturer. We worked around the existing architectural lights within the venue, carefully curating a strong variety of additional feature lights to create the ambience and visual interest that we envisioned for the space. We worked closely with an electrical consultant, Nebro, to ensure we were using the right lamps to create a warm and glowing atmosphere.”
DesignLSM’s brief took the Manchester location in a new direction for the brand. “It was important to understand the DNA of The Alchemist and what their future aspirations were from a strategic perspective before establishing the design narrative,” explains Taylor.
“The site needed to work from day to night, but with extensive floor-to-ceiling glazing around half of the venue, it was a challenge when it came to ensuring an organic ambience was created throughout the day.
“The typical challenge with refurbs is that you’re having to work with some existing elements whilst delivering a new look and feel for the space. In this venue, it had extremely high ceilings so it was essential to create big-scale drama otherwise the design would get lost. We selected decorative and immersive features and lighting that could hold the space, whilst embracing the layering of beautiful lighting (suspended lights, wall lights and integrated lighting) to create an intimate ambience in the evening.
“It was important for us to play with the drama of the narrative, reflecting the brand’s theatrical offering. It was key for us that the space felt immersive and reflected the playful DNA of the brand,” she continues.
“Addressing the operational objectives of the brief, a lucid identity was well-thought-out for the two main spaces – the bar and main dining area, as well as designing an additional intimate PDR (private dining room), improving the fluidity of movement between the whole venue whilst also creating engaging zones.”
Understanding The Alchemist’s commercial, operational and experiential objectives ensured the team stayed on brief consistently throughout the project. These elements helped to “define a clear and thorough foundation for our team to work from”.
“The Alchemist pride themselves on creating theatrical experiences, showcasing their creativity and innovation through mixology.
With the brand’s strong reputation for its unique offering across the country, it provided DesignLSM with an excellent opportunity to push the boundaries on curating a compelling and unique concept that would reflect the evolution of the brand’s DNA and transitioning narrative, drawing inspiration from the origins of the universe and cosmic alchemy.
“Strategically considering the overall guest experience, curating hero features that would define the space, the back bar – playing upon astronomical dynamism - has now become a striking focal point, accentuating the relationship between light and dark with beautifully framed circular lights that emit a soft glow during the day that enhances and becomes richer in hue and bolder in strength as the evening progresses – marking the solar/lunar progression.”
As mentioned, the space the team were working with featured very high ceilings, and lighting played a key role in managing these comfortably.
“Lighting was one of the main elements of this project and nearly all features were bespoke except two wall lights,” explains Taylor. “All of the lighting formed part of the compelling concept - every piece was carefully chosen to enhance the cosmic alchemy narrative and represent orbital pathways of planets and supernovas.
“Specifically though, is the large bar feature, which dominates the space and reflects the transition from day to night. The large glowing orbs that transition from warm white to amber to red represent the sun and its dominating/illuminating presence – as the day progresses, these orbs softly start to glow until darkness falls when they burn bright creating a striking and dominant golden glow.
“We used several manufacturers to produce our different light features, which were all carefully selected or designed to enhance the cosmic concept. With 80% of the lighting bespoke, we worked with Illumination to manufacture all the custom features including the main restaurant lights, comprising of approximately 125 led suspended Perspex rods, which were created to represent the swirling gasses in space, the suspended lights in and the PDR emulating planets.
“The glass wall lights (sourced from Chelsom) were strategically positioned on the columns representing the sun and the moon, whilst the mesh lights from Moooi created dramatic sculptural statements at the entrance of the venue.”
Lighting was an important element in the curation and designation of different zones throughout the space. The pieces aided in creating intimate spaces whilst in the main restaurant and bar, it was important to the team to deliver dramatic focal points to fill and illuminate the open areas. The sculptural aspects also enhance the changing ambience of the day as it transitions to night.
“For the private dining room, we created The Alchemist’s version of space, with seven planet-inspired lights, helping to create a welcoming area for groups,” continues Taylor. “In the bar, we opted for planet pendants, visible from the exterior façade.
“The female toilets, a dichotomy from the dark moody tones of the front of house, take a confident contrasting approach with wall lights that radiate energy along with the lively orange colour palette creating a burst of vibrancy whilst complimenting the terrazzo walls – a representation of fragments floating in space as a result of an exploding supernova.”
Using the already existing architectural lighting, the team were fortunate that the system was already very flexible, allowing them to reposition and re-angle fixtures to complement the additional feature lighting.
“Due to the open and exposed surfaces to the ceilings, we utilised cable trays, which were sprayed out across the ceiling in the same dark tone, accentuating the glow of the suspended lights whilst enhancing the cosmic narrative that each lighting feature played into. The main challenge was working with the existing surfaces, so feature lighting had to work around this.
“The lighting completely elevates the whole space, creating theatrical focal points throughout,” says Taylor on how the lighting accompanied the interior design scheme as a whole. “As soon as you step inside, you get a real sense of the narrative behind the design and the brand. Being an all-day drinking and dining destination, the lighting allows the space to subtly transition from a lunchtime spot to a vibrant drinking destination in the evening.”
The overall impression and reception from The Alchemist team has been resoundingly positive. “From the get-go, the concept was well interpreted and we’re extremely proud of the space we have created, and the new direction we have delivered for The Alchemist,” explains Taylor. “Since re-opening, we’re thrilled with the positive feedback we have received from both the client and the public. Despite there being a vast selection of drinking and dining destinations in the city, The Alchemist sets itself apart from other bars and restaurants in the local vicinity and remains one of Manchester’s most renowned social hot spots.
“We’re extremely proud of what we have created, with the finished space being a strong replication of our visuals. As with all projects, we are continuing to identify innovative ways to incorporate digital integrations, layering the physical space with technical elements to further enhance the guest experience.”
Douglas Road - Run For The Hills
Design duo Anna Burles and Chris Trotman, Founders of design practice Run For the Hills, renovated their London home on Douglas Road during 2020/21. darc asked Burles to provide commentary on their decisions and influences behind the lighting pieces used throughout their home.
During the height of the UK's national lockdown, Co-Founders of London-based design house Run For The Hills, Anna Burles and husband Chris Trotman decided to renovate their private home.
The couple's recently renovated, dated Victorian house in West London, was previously set up as two unmodernised flats. It needed to be formally de-converted back into a family home before planning could be granted for a side return and a three-room loft conversion.
The finished house is now a five-bedroom, three-bathroom property, with a stunning design bearing all the hallmarks of the creative duo’s personal style, flair and imagination.
Works began in August 2020 and finished in February 2021, a design-build collaboration with long-time construction partners JNJ Building Services. The team gutted the ground floor completely and reconfigured the layout, removing the double front living/dining room that many people opt for, instead keeping a small adult living room at the front, a small utility/guest bathroom, and then a large open-plan family space at the rear onto the garden, rebuilding all the brickwork to the old part of the house with full width crittal doors in a dark bronze metal.
In keeping with the studio’s design aesthetic for clients, their own home is very creative, cosy, and comfortable for their family-orientated life.
“As we’re designers, we knew we could push things and be innovative and daring, so we let our imagination run riot," says Burles. "The concept is very personal to us and we spent all of our waking hours and weekends, outside of running the studio, to develop the design and to specify everything needed.”
The house has a stylishly modern feel, with crittal doors throughout the ground floor bringing refined urban styling. The design also boasts dramatic, oversized decorative covings, flower petal ceiling roses, and a vintage-feel but with new herringbone floors, all of which keep the house feeling warm, inviting and full of period character.
Lighting is always an integral part of any design, and as such, darc asked Burles to walk us through the lighting choices throughout her new home.
"Lighting is such a huge part of any interior design and we wanted our home to be lit beautifully. Great lighting needs to be designed carefully into the scheme from day one and it’s utterly transformative and can elevate great design details to be real show-stoppers. As such, we wanted to ensure full control over the lighting in the property to allow for spaces to operate as cosy and relaxing or more task-focused depending on the needs. So, after doing the first cut of the lighting design ourselves, we enlisted the help of a lighting designer and a mood control company to add a smart lighting system to the property, using key pads with tailored settings input to suit the family’s needs with a flick of a switch, allowing maximum control over the light settings in the house.
Lighting Designer Collaboration - GKLD
We had big plans for the lighting in the house to be great – something we’ve learned from our commercial bar and restaurant design work – a great design can be transformed into an amazing, jaw-dropping design with great lighting, so we knew we’d need help specifying the right kind of architectural lights, beam angles, colour temperatures, and optics (which is such a specialist skill). We also had plans to install a mood lighting system in the property, to transform the atmosphere of a room from bright to moody and candle-lit dinner party at the flick of a switch, so we decided we needed to enlist the help of professional lighting designer Guy Kornetzki of GKLD.
Lighting Design Process
Kornetzki sprang off from our initial lighting concepts and decorative CAD lighting and electrical plans (with our initial suggestions of what lights could go where and how we’d like them to be controlled – with all decorative lamps and floor lamps coming on at the same time for example, or a pendant or chandelier being controlled separately). Kornetzki would import our CAD plans and then bounce back ideas to us, confirming the ones he thought we’d got right, and making alternate suggestions. Once we had a range of ideas we all loved, he then calculated and estimated the fittings we’d need, the quantities, where they’d be sited, and how the light would project and highlight what we wanted it to showcase. We’d then run that all by JNJ’s lead electrician, Ben Jenkins, to sense check it from a wiring and load perspective. It’s a technical process and great to have someone who can act as the bridge with the electrical contractor, who can talk knowledgeably about hidden drivers, connectors, and widgets, which make systems and circuits talk to each other.
Choosing Light Sources
I then researched and found the best lamps to use in the decorative lights, wall lights, floor lamps, and table lamps, all of which needed to be intelligent LED dimmers to work well on the lighting system, running my findings by Kornetzki to check. Researching the wattages needed per fitting and finding nice products, which would harmonise an overall colour temperature and mood that was warm not cold. I ended up selecting a mix of G9s and lovely filament and porcelain-style lamps from Tala in warm whites and super warm whites to create a really cosy effect. For the LED strip lighting under the shelves in the kitchen, Kornetzki specified an IP65 rated strip in a warm white 2200k for a comfortable look. All of the architectural downlights were specified by Kornetzki and came from Orluna. They create a really lovely light, in warm white in a variety of beam angles depending on what we want to illuminate. Lights specifically illuminating art were a bit cooler, to keep colours true, but still warm white. Lamps illuminating finishes and upholstery were kept soft and warm.
Mood Lighting System
Kornetzki also helped us research and find our mood lighting controls partner, helping refine the brief, scope and costing, and continued as liaison with them through the life of the project, helping us understand the technical side of the system and how we could get it to work the way we wanted. You wouldn’t believe how much wiring is in the house to control the system, it was like spaghetti junction. It’s expensive, and much more than just having dimmer switches everywhere, but it takes the lighting to a completely different level. We’re so pleased to be able to control the lighting in a really sophisticated, super speedy way.
Some of these mood systems allow you to control the lighting from your phone, and to change the settings of each light source within a scene.
The lighting design was a really close-knit collaboration between us as the main designers, the Electrical Contractor Jenkins from JNJ, Lighting Designer Kornetzki, and the mood controls system team.
Mood Control 'Scenes'
When designing the ‘scenes’ on the control panel it’s essential to do it at different times of the day, including late into the evening, to make sure you’re getting it right. In most zones we opted for five control settings including: Bright, Dimmed, Moody, Dinner Party Candlelight, Reading Lights-only and Off. Some keypads have double click functionality, switching control to another room, setting it at the same scene you’re using (useful in an open-plan room where you want to set the whole room to cosy, without having to walk over to all of the keypads). Other keypads have press and hold to set a timer for lights to turn off after 10 seconds or so, allowing you to get up the first flight of stairs before they turn off. The ‘All Off’ button by the front door is great for turning off every single light in the house before you leave.
An Artful Design – the art story
One of the big signatures in the house design is the art, which fills so many of the walls and is picked out beautifully by the lighting design. Many of the art prints are by Chris (aka artist Dex) and myself. All of the art was planned and fittings chosen to wash certain sized pieces displayed on walls, fireplace mantels, and on shelves.
Display Cases
Art is also homed in a large, glazed display case-come-curiosity cabinet in the kitchen/diner family room, which was originally designed as a wardrobe, but which we turned into a museum-style display cabinet filled with props, accessories, curios and art. This cabinet also has integrated lighting to make the contents glow as if in an art gallery or museum.
Mission Control
The lighting controls are discreetly hidden on both the ground floor and first floor in pieces of joinery. For the main ground floor hub, we designed a really complex but great understairs set of storage pieces, some of which are fixed and some pull out on wheels to give access to the sizeable Helvar lighting control system and fuse boards behind. The drawers unit has a mix of sizes, including a deep one for kids' helmets and school bags and then lots of little drawers with labels for small tools, batteries, bike lights, first aid, and sunglasses – literally a place for everything. Then some post racks above for notices from the kids' school, umbrellas, and other small items that would usually be stashed in a drawer of doom.
House Images: Philip Durrant
Dusk - ByBeau
ByBeau's newest bespoke creation Dusk has been a work in progress as the team waited for technology to catch up to fulfil the aesthetic desires. The stunning installation transforms any space from dawn to dusk.
Dusk, created by studio ByBeau, is inspired by the time of day when shadows grow and light becomes copper-gold; dusk.
Each copper body of Dusks’ stalactites forms the base to apply precious metals like gold, silver or a myriad of non-precious finishes. This flexibility allows full customisation to create a "personalised sunset".
Beau McClellan, Creative Director, says: "The ideology behind Dusk was a form that would work equally well within both classical and contemporary environments. Dusk soon became an exploration in temporality; waiting for technology to catch up with a design intended to prevent time from doing the same to its aesthetic."
Hand-ground crystal tips are seamlessly attached to each copper finger, with each angle precisely aligned. Great care was taken to ensure that no trace of manufacturing threatened the organic feel of Dusk.
The angles refract and reflect light throughout the chandelier, bouncing it from element to element. "This produces a sensory experience reactive to the configuration and scale of the whole piece. Flickering and glistening; alive with the arcs and patterns created," adds McClellan.
Each finger houses a powerful LED - of specific colour temperature - that is small enough to fit comfortably within. "The breakthrough unit used in Dusk combines extraordinary power with compact size. A challenge to the clean lines of the design was posed by the more powerful LED requiring the incorporation of a far more effective heat sink to dissipate the temperature.
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All images: Vasco Celio/stills
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"Dusk aptly transitions between day and night without imposing the ambience of either. Twilight has an illusionary nature with the sun neither above the horizon nor below it; a balance of day and night - there cannot be one without the other, yet they cannot exist at the same time. Our Dusk represents dualism; a bond of form and function, of classical and contemporary…of night and day.
"Dusk is a piece that showcases many of the philosophies that define the work of ByBeau. The time it took to produce is a testament to our team’s dedication to their art. As artists we seek to challenge ourselves; to produce the creative, rather than the easy," McClellan concludes.
Tekna x GioBagnara
Working together with Italian leather brand GioBagnara, Tekna has produced a new collection consisting of existing fixtures but finished in sleek leather, available in numerous colours.
Tekna’s recently released collection was formed in collaboration with Italian leather brand GioBagnara. Bringing together leather and lighting is a new approach for the Belgium-based brand and one that brings a less-common material to the lighting specification market. The new collection is comprised of the Blakes table lamp, Marquesse floor lamp, and Walcott and Walcott Twin wall lamps.
“The Tekna x GioBagnara collection aims to create pieces able to generate unique atmospheres and enhance spaces, giving birth to a union where traditional Italian and Belgian lifestyles meet,” says Tekna. “[We] have loved unique and durable materials including brass and bronze since day one. Leather is a great addition to this, as it is unique and in this way distinguishable.
“We have chosen to work with leather because, in addition to the qualitative aspect, it also gives an extra structure to the finish. Leather can do a lot with your interior. It all depends on the way you use it as to what kind of leather you use and with which colours you combine.
“Leather lends itself very well to the upholstery of our appliances as they contain a lot of details including ledges and glasswork. All these details need to be finished to a high standard, which we thought other materials, such as wood, would not allow.”
The collaboration between Tekna and GioBagnara was born from Tekna’s long-standing admiration for the leather brand and its craftsmanship. Since approaching GioBagnara a few years ago, the teams worked together to produce this new collection after numerous design meetings and product prototypes within four months.
“The concept is simple but works tremendously. We cover existing lighting fixtures with leather, which creates a totally new approach to lighting. By working with leather the light produces a very different glow,” continues Tekna.
“For this collection, we chose to transform some of our bestsellers into works of art in leather. And this combination resulted in great success. This is found in the details, and the fine craftsmanship, the hand-applied leather and stitching details, which in all have created an enhanced decorative element of this collection.”
One of the challenges the teams found throughout the process of working with a new material was ensuring that the aesthetics and functionality were not compromised. The hand-crafted approach meant they could keep an eye on the details and finishes, and make tweaks along the way that supported each individual fixture.
Wanting to maximise the customisable features of these lamps, it is possible to choose from more than 370 leather finishes and more than 100 colour swatches and stitch colours. This enables the user to select a unique combination for their product to suit their residential or hospitality space. “This way you can choose the eye-catcher for your home or opt for a more simple and ton sur ton piece,” says Tekna.
“We want Tekna to be the Louis Vuitton of the lighting world. And just like buying your favourite handbag, we want to emulate that special feeling. This collection complements it perfectly,” it concludes.
Entries open for SLL Young Lighter 2022
(UK) – The Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) has announced that entries for the SLL Young Lighter 2022 are now open. Aimed at people in the early stages of their lighting career, the competition is open to anyone under the age of 30 with an interest in light and lighting.
Entries can be based on any light-related topic, and the winner will receive £1,000 in prize money, along with the prestigious title of SLL Young Lighter 2022.
The competition is designed to provide people with a platform to share their lighting ideas – this could be a piece of research, a lighting concept or design, new technology or product, or even a proposal for a new lighting metric or design methodology.
Previous winners include Maria Englezou, whose winning paper questioned current approaches to the design of lighting for healthcare facilities rooms; Aluwaine Manyonga, who proposed an off-grid solar lighting system to help provide improved access to education in Africa; and Anna Wawrzyniak, who proposed a light boosting system to support the circadian rhythms of commuters using underground transportation for their commute to and from work.
The competition is open to entrants from all over the world and is broken into three stages. Entry Stage One calls for six introductory Powerpoint slides outlining the entry. These could include images, illustrations, graphics, animations, text, voice etc; at Stage Two, the SLL will ask entrants to elaborate with a short presentation to expand on their initial ideas. This can be in whichever format they feel illustrates the entry best; for Stage Three, finalists will be selected and invited to deliver a 15-minute presentation in front of an online audience.
Entries are open until 25 August. More information can be found on the SLL website here. Or you can email sll@cibse.org for further details.
LiGHT 22 announces talks programme
(UK) - Alongside LiGHT 22's exhibition, the team at [d]arc media bring you its latest instalment of [d]arc thoughts.
In collaboration with Lutron, the two-day talks programme will feature insightful comments and discussions from designers working at some of the leading studios in the industry.
Confirmed topics include:
DAY ONE
- The Future of Materials
- Lighting Design as a Strategy for Inclusion
- Starting out in Design
- The Lifespan of a Project
DAY TWO
- Design for Wellness
- Specifying Bespoke Lighting
- The Weaponisation of Light
- Dark Skies
More topics and speakers are to be announced soon.
Catellani & Smith's 2022 collection
In 2004, colour was introduced into Catellani & Smith’s catalogue for the first time with its PostKrisi collection. It used colour as a message of rebirth and joy. Today, that colour returns in its 2022 collection, presented here in a film by Giorgio Oppici captured earlier this year.
Moooi - Heracleum
Moooi’s iconic Heracleum is now available in a brand-new colour: Green.
The Heracleum is a Moooi Original design with a strong presence in the collection since its first introduction in 2010. The lifestyle brand honours its Moooi Originals by further improving them with new technology added into Heracleum III and a new colourway. The updated design in a new colour highlights its floral inspiration.
Also, all designs in the Heracleum III family are now compatible with Moooi’s Wireless Wall Switch.
Skills Army launch photography competition
(Online) – Skills Army has launched a photography competition, inviting participants to tell a story through shadows.
The competition, open to all through LinkedIn, asks entrants to “give a shadow a new dimension”, and to celebrate the power of shadows.
To enter, participants just need to post their images to LinkedIn, tagging Skills Army and using the hashtags #shadowart and #skillsarmy.
The winning entry will win an iGuzzini Pizza Kobra light fitting, designed by Ron Arad.
Michael Grubb Studio promotes Daniela Rendon to Project Lighting Designer
(UK) – As part of its ongoing response to significant levels of rapid growth, Michael Grubb Studio has promoted Daniela Rendon to Project Lighting Designer.
Having worked for the studio since 2019, Rendon has demonstrated her commitment to the lighting design industry. Her skills and knowledge have undoubtedly contributed to the success of many of the company’s recent projects.
In her new role, Rendon will manage design projects at varying stages of completion, working with a senior team member to ensure deadlines are met. She will put her self-motivation, good initiative, and organisational skills to good use, as well as demonstrate her ability to liaise with suppliers, clients, and design teams.
Rendon will be able to draw on her vast experience of working on projects of varying scales, across multiple sectors. These include the award-winning Bath Abbey project, King’s Walk Shopping Centre in Gloucester, and Woolsery in Devon. She has also been an active participant in industry events such as the creation of a lighting installation at the [d]arc Awards 2019, as well as being crowned a Technical Award Winner at the 2021 SLL Ready Steady Light challenge.
Speaking of her new role, Rendon said: “I am very excited to start my new position. I truly appreciate the opportunity and look forward to continuing to grow, as well as contributing to the creative and talented team of Michael Grubb Studio. I feel extremely motivated and encouraged by the team support, which makes coming to work an absolute joy.”
Michael Grubb, Founder and Managing Director of Michael Grubb Studios, added: “Daniela has proven herself to be a committed team member, with excellent lighting design and project management skills. In her new role, she will be able to build on these, as well as taking a more prominent position with clients and other stakeholders.
“I’m extremely proud of Daniela and it has been wonderful to watch her grow and develop as part of the Michael Grubb Studio team.”
Empty State - Pill Wall Light
Complementing its portfolio of statement pendant lights, the Pill wall light is Empty State’s first foray into wall-mounted lights. An adaptation of the existing capsule-shaped design, the light offers a new perspective, whilst remaining beautifully designed with exquisite attention to detail.
Combining handblown coloured glass with sharp brass accents, Pill delivers modern elegance and luxury. With a modular design comprised of customisable glass colour, metal finishes and light configurations, each piece is made to order, exquisitely designed and made by hand in London.
With its striking design and compact size, Pill provides an eye-catching lighting solution, suitable for a variety of spaces throughout the home. Hanging from its elegant, circular mount, the light reflects a soft, illuminating glow off the wall, creating an inviting and intimate space. From adding a contemporary feel to a bathroom to lighting a dramatic staircase, the Pill wall light can be used in both traditional and modern decor whilst adding artistic flair to any space.
Available in five stunning finishes including black anodised, silver anodised, brushed brass, burnished brass and polished brass, Pill can be paired with a variety of coloured glass options ranging from a bold, bright blue and opal to smoked, green and soft, pale pink.
Providing well-appointed lighting solutions to design-orientated homes and interiors, Empty State draws inspiration from contemporary architectural styles and design icons through the ages, with each product made with ultimate precision to the finest detail.
Tom Dixon
Celebrating 20 years of design, Tom Dixon launched the exhibition Twenty at Palazzo Serbelloni, a neoclassical palace where Sotheby’s has its Milan galleries and offices. Visitors were invited to explore a curated selection of designs, with 20 unseen pieces on display.
darc’s editor Sarah Cullen caught up with Dixon during an exclusive press preview of the collection in Milan to discuss the brand’s 20th anniversary and the direction he is pushing it in moving forward.
“We had a plan. Though I don’t think I was projecting it 20 years forwards from when we started, the initial idea of having the eponymous label has worked out as we hoped, but we thought [the journey] would have been a bit easier. From the perspective of mimicking let’s say the fashion industry, in terms of how you set up a business using your own name, having your own distribution, and your own communication, I didn’t realise that it would end up like this.
“Lots of stuff has changed in the interim, right? But what I didn’t realise is how much more difficult it is to cover [as a product designer] all the different categories of the home, from a distribution and logistics perspective, and the way people buy,” Dixon explains.
Further likening the varied manufacturing approaches to that of the fashion industry, Dixon explains that if you have one manufacturing technique such as sewing, for example, this can be replicated at home in the UK or in a factory in Vietnam. However, when it comes to producing homeware, every packaging box is a different size and shape, which entails different import restrictions, etc. “It’s been more difficult than I thought to do a whole interior concept, but I think the vision, if you want to call it that, and how you take control over your own destiny as a product designer is reasonably accurate,” he adds. “We are still the only company of our size that does that.”
When asked whether there was a particular design Dixon had wished to have launched by this milestone, he comments: “You have these fantasies about what people will buy and, although you gain experience and get better at predicting that, the reality is the market dictates it. And, getting things at the right price and at the right quality is tricky, particularly if you don’t have your own factory.
“We’ve become better in lighting, which is from a pull in the market. I thought we’d probably be more reflective of how people furnish their spaces, in terms of proportionality. Our lighting business is 60% of what we do, which is not equivalent to the proportion [of lighting] you have in your home or in a restaurant. The marketplace decides roughly what people will buy from you. Different parts of the world, like Hong Kong, would be much more accessories focused, for instance, and for logistical reasons, again, getting your furniture out there means much longer lead times, along with things like anti-import duties or restrictions of what type of testing you need for California; it’s a different picture for different parts of the world.
“So, it’s harder for you to have mastery over the destiny of a selection than it is to have over what the initial concept was, which is to have at least a way of creating your own universe. This is something most product designers don’t have; they’ve got an aesthetic, but their output goes to lots of other brands to be marketed and sold.”
With regards to Brexit and how it’s impacted them as a UK-based brand, Dixon describes it as a “perfect storm”.
“Brexit, if you’re an import / export business, is an abject disaster. You’d have hoped there’d be some advantage, any advantage, that had been carefully constructed behind the scenes during the three years [the government] had to sort it out, i.e., better conditions for British manufacturing, new export markets, seamless borders. But there’s none of it. It’s just become more paperwork, more inefficiency, and more unknowns – it’s a shocking picture,” he says.
Turning the conversation to Twenty, Dixon explains that the various pieces chosen were selected because they helped with getting the brand to where it is today. “I mean, to be frank, given the state of Milan - we’re going to have a little Salone in September, actually we’re going to have it in April now, no we’re now going to have it in June… - We didn’t even know if we were going to do this show this year.
“We wanted to look at some of the things that got us to where we are now and see whether they could be refreshed and rejuvenated. There are some things more experimental, and some that were so good we didn’t show them because we didn’t want to share them before they were available for sale. I might be exaggerating, but there were a couple of things that came back [from production] that were so bad we couldn’t possibly show them. So, you must be pragmatic about it.
“I also quite like showing some things that are total failures. For me, the rubber S chair is a total failure, but it’s still an amusing narrative and it’s an experiment. I also didn’t want to just look backwards - pulling out some pieces I thought were interesting that we never produced, like the paper lanterns for instance, feel relevant now.
“There were lots of ideas that went through a funnel, and what comes out the other end, comes out the other end. Then, you have some things that get stuck in customs, and others that arrived yesterday, which I’d never seen, like the aluminium lamps for instance. They looked great in 3D render, but they could have been rubbish, or they could have never turned up. There’s been some good surprises and there’s been some appalling disasters, but that’s just Milan. That’s how it rolls.”
The Melt chandelier, one of Tom Dixon’s most popular items, was selected as part of the Twenty exhibition. Dixon wanted to draw attention to it but with minimal intervention. Thus, a simple dichroic filter was added, creating an interesting and different effect to the iconic light. “We’ve all seen dichroic effects - maybe on cheap novelty sunglasses in Camden Market, or on the surface of early Roman glass in the British Museum - but I know that it’s a finish that has always fascinated me. The emergence of Modern Dichroic thin film filters, which split white light into its component colours, is the work of the engine of extreme innovation, NASA. When we looked at updating Melt, our most successful light, rather than offering a new shape, a new size, or a new colour, we decided to instead filter the light with a dichroic filter. The effect of the coated component is to channel the light of our powerful LED driver into constituent parts of the spectrum, giving the already crazed internal reflection an additional chromatic boost and an unexpected space-age aesthetic to this otherworldly lamp.”
Looking to be more sustainable in future product designs, the studio has been experimenting with various materials such as cork, mycelium, and biorock. “It’s becoming increasingly urgent. I can’t just sit around and ignore it, and so we’re doing our best to find substitute materials,” says Dixon. “The miracle with 100% recycled is you can’t really tell the difference. We thought there would be a significant drop in clarity or a significant increase in bubbles and imperfections, but it almost feels glassier because it’s not completely pristine and virgin. The only problem being is plastic is roughly 60 - 70% more expensive, so we have to see whether the market is prepared to pay for sustainability. Everybody wants to do it, but the proof is in the pudding. And I think what’s been interesting, in terms of observing how it can work, is the LED revolution where there’s a mix in legislation, which mainly came from California. This affected how the American sales worked. You can’t ignore California and then, combined with huge, amazing research, engineering and manufacturing, and progress, have designers piling on board trying to make acceptable sustainable solutions for the customer. I think it takes all three; it takes government, innovation, and science, plus some design.
“So, the difficulty with sustainability is that you see there’s an interest. People love to touch it, they want to be part of it, but will they consume it? Particularly if everything is brown. Brown has its moments, but these things are subject to fashions. I think it’s important for us to show what we’re working on, and if there’s genuine enthusiasm, we can accelerate on those things rather than making a series of mess-ups. Also, it’s never black and white. Plastic versus glass in terms of energy consumption it isn’t an obvious equation.
“We have been challenging ourselves and our factories to reduce our impact on the environment, so the monumental vertical chandelier [Mirror Ball] will be the first to display one of our oldest designs in a 100% recycled polycarbonate. The change in optical quality is imperceptible and is a demonstration of the opportunities now available in a rapidly changing landscape to try harder to find more credible alternatives to virgin material.”
Along with many other studios, the last couple of years has been a difficult one for the brand. However, Dixon admits they’ve “not thrived, but more than survived”.
He continues: “We’ve been hugely impacted from a manufacturing perspective. And it isn’t so much just manufacturing, Brexit, increasing in container costs, and the rest of it, which is a universal issue, it’s also the fact that there haven’t been any trade fairs. That makes it really hard to launch new products. Ours is a physical business where people still need to see pieces in person. It’s useless to do it on zoom.”
Looking to the future and the new generations of designers coming into the industry, darc asked for Dixon’s advice on getting yourself out there: “I think they’re in such a better position than I ever was to get attention without having to invest loads in physical showrooms. I can remember having to pay for stamps to send an invitation to a party like this, whereas now you can just gather a flash crowd in an instant - you can address the world from your bedroom. You’ve never been in a better position to make yourself visible and to sell, whether that’s on Etsy or Instagram. You’re able to create a business and FedEx your product to people all over the world from your bedroom. That’s amazing! But the most important thing then is how do you stick out from the crowd? The market is so much more saturated, and so it becomes harder and harder to make that impact even though it’s easier at the same time. So, there’s a kind of catch-22. The important thing is really finding your uniqueness and having a different point of view. There is absolutely no point in trying to be like me, or like anybody else. If you’re at the beginning of your career, you’ve got to be yourself,” he concludes.
