Tom Dixon is a self-taught designer. Born in Sfax, Tunisia in 1959, Dixon was brought to England as a toddler and grew up in London. After dropping out of art school in 1980, he played bass guitar in the band Funkapolitan and organised warehouse parties, before teaching himself welding. Dixon’s D-I-Y approach to design matched the post-punk mood of the early 1980s. Having made his name, but little money, by making and selling limited editions of his welded furniture, chairs such as the S Chair and Pylon Chair, he tried his hand at retailing, by opening a shop, Space, to sell his products, then manufacturing through the company Eurolounge which produced his work and that of other designers, like Michael Young. He is currently Head of Design at Habitat and creative director of the Finnish furniture manufacturer, Artek.