Some might say that Dixon's introduction to the world of design was inauspicious. Leaving Chelsea School of Art before he had completed his degree, he took his quirky sensibilities to – of all places – London’s avant-garde nightclub scene. In the late 1980s Dixon trouped leftfield London nightspots with his unlikely one-man show, a segment of which found him fashioning incongruous pieces of household furniture from objets trouvés, (found objects). One such piece – the “Kitchen Chair” – was an amalgam of everyday metal objects – frying pans, ladles, and other offcasts - welded extemporanely into a semblance of a chair. Oddly – and thankfully – he was encouraged by his efforts and soon took up design full-time.
The S and Pylon Chairs
In 1988 – the year after his first effort – Dixon introduced the equally avant-garde but more stylish S Chair. A veritable sliver of a seat, Dixon’s S is the essence of brevity and flaunts its designer's wonderful felicity of touch from wherever one examines it. At first sight, though, the chair’s geometry and carriage seem unlikely to support the weight of a sitter; but the chair's ostensibly flimsy serpentine shape belies its super tensile frame whose wonderful ergonomic shape affords both comfort and perfect posture. The S’s frame is typically covered in woven marsh straw, but painted wicker and spotted leather are available.
Dixon followed up on the success of the S chair with his equally unusual Pylon chair. As much a piece of miniature architecture as a chair, the Pylon only assumes the semblance of a seat once the viewer has traced out the intricate fretwork of its interconnected iron wire frame. Often finished in orange or gypsum white, the Pylon sports a low seat and high back rest that bifurcates at the headrest into two wings which taper at the ends.
The Rocking Bird Chaise Longue
Perhaps the most ambitious of the pieces in Dixon’s oeuvre is his 1991 Bird chair. To say the least, it’s an unconventional chair that makes a valiant effort to marry a chaise longue and a rocker. Typically upholstered in blue fabric, the chair resembles – as its name suggest – a bird on the wing. The sitter positions himself between the Bird’s two pinions and – apparently defying the law of gravity – is suspended in perfect equilibrium. However, should the wont take the sitter, he can easily effect a rock motioning by switching his weight, a manoeuvre that acts to flap the figurative Bird’s wings. It’s no surprise the chair is favourite with children.
Price and Dimensions
All three chairs are manufactured by the Italian company Cappellini. Owing to their inimitable design, Dixon fakes or copies are few and far between.
- The S Chair retails at $1,818.00; the Bird Chair, $3,216.00; Pylon Chair: $6,786.00.
- Bird Chair: 19.69"w x 35.04"h x 65.35"d
- Pylon Chair: 26.38"w x 50.39"h x 23.62"d : seat height - 16.14"
- S Chair: 19.69"w x 40.16"h x 16.54"d : seat height - 18.5"
