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Tom Dixon - Pandamonium 1

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Tom Dixon

Title: Zinc Pander
Panda, zinc, plastic
H 80 cm

Lot no: 13

Dixon turns a plastic object into semi-precious metal. The artist decided that simplifying the panda and making it even more precious was all it required.

“I was keen to be involved in this project as it is always hard to know how to help in a simple and practical way, and this allowed us to support WWF through our existing expertise.

“I didn’t want to make anything complex and so I have used alchemy to turn a plastic object into semi-precious metal … This very literal transformation is a metaphor for how these endangered species are becoming more and more precious to us.”

Estimated value: £2,250 - £3,500

Tom Dixon

Tom Dixon was born in Tunisia in 1959. He attended Chelsea School of Art in 1980, dropping out after a year to become the bass guitarist with the band Funkapolitan. Following a motorcycle accident, he went on to become a self-taught welder and started making highly original welded ‘salvage’ furniture. By the end of the 1980s he was making chairs for the famous Italian designer Cappellini. Early pieces such as the S Chair and the Pylon Chair are now part of the permanent collection of MoMa, New York. In 1998 Dixon was appointed head of design at Habitat, and later became creative director, remaining there until 2008. In 2002, with David Begg he established Tom Dixon – a British design and manufacturing company; and in 2004 they teamed up with the Swedish-based investment company Proventus to create Tom Dixon Design Research Ltd. This holding company also includes Artek, the Finnish modernist furniture company set up by architect Alvar Alto in 1935. Tom Dixon was awarded an OBE in 2001 and won Designer of the Year from Architektur and Wohnen magazine in 2008.

Selected exhibitions and projects:
2008 Istanbul Museum of Modern Art
2008 Paramount Club, London
2006 Soho House, London
2005 Inn in the Park, St James Park, London
2004 Tokyo Hipsters Club

Selected collections include:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Boston Museum of Fine Art
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Centres Georges Pompidou in Paris

Tom Dixon - Pandamonium

The auction

The pieces were auctioned on 12 October 2009 at Selfridges, Oxford Street, London to raise funds for WWF.

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