Tom Dixon’s ultra-shiny lamps

Tyler Watamanuk on the similarities between the British designer and a particular Pop-Minimalist sculptor.

This story was originally published in Prune, our free design and interiors newsletter.

Tom Dixon is known for catching your eye. Since 2002, the British designer’s namesake label has surprised and delighted with esoteric silhouettes and striking finishes. His Melt chandeliers feature organic orbs that feel like they might drip down to the floor; his carafes and decanters split the difference between beaker and bong, and he once exaggerated the proportions of the classic wingback chair until it was fit for an Inspector Gadget villain. One of Dixon’s newer designs—the Bell lamp—is so shiny that it takes on the quality of a funhouse mirror.

“It seems to me that customers are more prepared to be adventurous in lighting than in other categories of the home,” Dixon once said. “It seems to be a space to be more playful or more futuristic.”

Dixon unveiled the Bell lamp in 2021. It comes in two sizes—the smaller bell dome is 3” wide, and the larger one is 11.5” wide—and is available in black, copper, brass, silver, and a hyper-polished orange reflective surface. The silhouette feels inspired by Verner Panton’s Flowerpot lamp from the 1960s and the Bellhop lamp by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, designed in 2018. (The latter gained newfound fame thanks to a cameo in the final season of HBO’s Succession.) However, the true star of the Bell lamp is its material, whose “reflective surface allows it to take on the characteristics of its surroundings.”

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