Utility futures: Industrial design makes a comeback

Milan – ‘Utility’, the new collection launched at the Milan Salone by British design and manufacturing firm Tom Dixon, breaks down design into basic forms, materials and functions. ‘Our work has always rotated around an appreciation of things that are simple, hard wearing, and as tough and fundamental as we can get away with,’ Dixon, the designer, says. Products need to be about ‘serviceability’ and longevity, he says – features handily built into his lamps, tables and upholstered chairs. The collection sings a hymn to utility, tradition, simplicity and the industrial revolution’s base components – screws, bolts, blasted enamels and heavy-duty pressed glass.

Read LS:N Global’s report on Tom Dixon’s new collection in our Insight News review.