Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.

I mentioned on the previous post about my aspiration to meet one of my favourite designers one day, Tom Dixon. Well, now I finally met him. I flew to London just after Guru’s day to attend a private event at his headquarters, close to Ladbroke Grove at the former recording studio of Virgin Records.

There were about twenty people invited and Tom gave a presentation about his work and inspirations.

My mission is to make extraordinary objects for everyday use.

Lighting is part of the modern world because you have electricity going through it.

ETCH PENDANT COPPER LIGHT

MELT PENDANT CHROME

The melt lamp looks like it’s been crushed but it’s actually molded in a aluminium mould, industrially produced. The trick is to get half metallisation. It’s put into a vacuum chamber and a tiny piece of aluminium is exploded inside the vacuum and coating the interior surfaces of the lamp. Made from polycarbonate, not from glass. This make the lamp unbreakable.

After the presentation, I had a chat with him and showed him my lamp. I wanted to hear his feedback about it as I was really inspired by his style when I designed it. Tom was really impressed with the overall look, especially by the glass. That’s a material he loves to work with, too. He didn’t hire me (yet), but he suggested to create more designs with that beautiful sphere. For example a pendant lamp or a floor lamp.

I don’t have a favourite object I designed. I’m never satisfied. It’s immensely frustrating to be in a constant state of dissatisfaction, but actually drives you to make the next object.

Leaving now the Capital with a better idea of what I should focus on this year: don’t just improve my previous design but look further and think about other possibilities of lighting design. You have to START SMALL to end big.