Dezeen and publisher Conran Octopus are offering readers the chance to win one of ten copies of designer Tom Dixon's new book The Interior World of Tom Dixon, each book specially packaged in a gold Tom Dixon-branded bag.
The book explores the author's approach to design and his definition of some of its different facets, presented here in 6 chapters entitled Materialism, Constructivism, Futurism, Reductionism, Expressionism and Fundamentalism.
This competition is now closed.
Ten winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.
Subscribe to our newsletter, get our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for details of future competitions.
Here are more details from the publisher:
--
THE INTERIOR WORLD OF TOM DIXON
By Tom Dixon
The inspirational new book from a dream merchant of the design industry
Everyone wants to know what Tom Dixon is going to do next. He is an icon, a self-educated maverick whose every move is followed avidly by the design, fashion and art world. Published to coincide with his appearance at this year’s 100% Design exhibition, The Interior World of Tom Dixon will get you closer than ever before inside the mind of this renowned designer.
The Interior World of Tom Dixon is not a history of design; it is a substantial insight into the workings of Tom’s mind – it sets out to explain the theories and methods of working that make up the fabric of Tom’s career as one of the world’s most widely respected designers. The book describes a personal approach and how through 20 years of experience, he has defined his own rules for categorising and describing different aspects of design. Divided into 6 visually inspiring chapters; Materialism, Constructivism, Futurism, Reductionism, Expressionism and Fundamentalism, Tom talks frankly about what design means to him, how he believes contemporary design colours the world around us and gives in-depth explanation of materials, processes and styles of design throughout history to the current day.
Tom Dixon comments “In an increasingly complex and chaotic visual and functional landscape, I hope I can share some of the excitement that I have the luxury of observing in these exhilarating, terrifying and explosively visual times. We all have instant access to bewildering quantities of images, but it is through processing and making links between different fields that I am able to think of something new. In this sense, this book is more of a scrapbook, the influences inside me.”
With over 700 colour photographs, this book is packed with visual stimulation that will inspire, seduce and show what really makes Tom Dixon tick. It exudes Tom’s enthusiasm for design, and with its textured cover and cutting edge look, it is an object of design in itself. The Interior World of Tom Dixon is a personal vision, a fascinating insight into the mind of one of Britain’s most celebrated designers and a valuable resource of ideas and inspiration that anyone interested in design will lust after.
Tom Dixon OBE rose to prominence in the mid 1980's as "the talented untrained designer with a line in welded salvage furniture". By the late 1980's, he was working for Cappellini for whom he designed the Iconic ‘S’ chair. By the 1990's, he was practically a household name.
Tom Dixon was Creative Director of Habitat until 2008 after 10 years as head of design. Throughout his career Tom has held many exhibitions of his work and his designs have been acquired by the world’s most famous museums collections across the globe.
Setting up his own design company in 2002 has given Tom a platform for iconic designs such as ‘Mirror Ball, Rubber Band chair and Beat light. Dixon now acts as the Creative Director of Artek the iconic, modernist company created in 1935 as well as the Tom Dixon brand, which have recently interior designed Shoreditch House for the Soho House Group and other iconic spaces such the Design Embassy at the London ICA. Tom Dixon launches new collections annually at the Milan international furniture fair and a range of over products across 48 countries.
INSIDE THE BOOK
Materialism
“Just like cooking, the end result will completely depend on the ingredients used. The world of materials changes with fashion, but just look at the extraordinary possibilities and choice available in the modern world…the rough, the smooth, the natural or the synthetic, the transparent, the coloured, the glowing…‘un embaras de choix’, as my mother used to say.”
Constructivism
“How you put things together and how things are made, for me, have provided all the inspiration I need. What innovation and what progress has been made, has come through the unstoppable human urge to build, to construct and create.”
Reductionism
“In a hyperconsumptionist age where more and more is available at seemingly lower and lower prices, the battle is now on for space. How do you deal with the relentless pressure to acquire more, to collect carefully and to be more selective? Or do we try and avoid having anything at all that is unnecessary? That is the question.”
Primitivism
“In the end design doesn’t really exist as a thing in itself, it is just a tool that is used to improve processes, objects and spaces. More interesting is to look at how all the domestic functions can work well within spaces; to look at all the intangibles that affect our environments from smells to light and colour.”
Futurism
“Are we now living in the future, or were we conned all along into thinking that we would be leading seamless existences in perfect environments? Does technology help or hinder modern life? Or could the future really mean a simpler existence altogether….”
Published by Conran Octopus I September 2008 I £60 I Hardback
Subscribe to our newsletter, get our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for details of future competitions.
Buy this book and others at the Dezeenbooks store
(in association with amazon.co.uk)
Congratulations to the winners! Lavanya Asthana in India, Alex Hawkey in the UK, Popovici Teodor Constantin in Romania, Rohan Appel in Australia, Albert Boti in Spain, Tsai Chia-ying in China, David Bravo Salva in Spain, See Teck Yeo in the UK, Felix Wurst in Germany and Lucy Swift in the UK.