Dezeen Magazine

Tom Dixon to skip this year's Milan design week

Tom Dixon is to step away from the Milan design week circuit for the first time in 15 years, and will instead launch products during a 90-day world tour.

In April, the British designer will embark on the tour that will see him travel the globe to visit press, designers and clients in their own countries – rather than at Milan design week.

Speaking to Dezeen, Dixon said showing in Milan had become "expected" of his company. He envisages that moving forward, the brand will treat the annual event as a biennale, by showing there every other year.

"Milan is clearly just as important and possibly even more as it remains the biggest in our sector, but it has mutated from a pure trade show into a more public design and marketing festival," he said.

"As a result, it may make more sense for us to treat it as a biennale, and show more powerfully every other year."

Dixon's global tour set to begin in April

Setting off on the 1 April, Dixon will begin his three-month presentation at a new London hub, before moving on to New York.

Hoping to explore the "furthest reaches of a rapidly exploding world network", the designer and his team will go on to visit Casablanca, Reykjavik, Singapore, Toronto, Cape Town, Berlin and Lima.

In Sydney, Dixon will launch a new store, while in Tokyo and Hong Kong existing outposts will be redesigned.

"The countries [we chose] are a mixture of the most interesting, the freshest, the most obscure and the most obvious, but also the people who have been the greatest supporters," Dixon told Dezeen.

Products launching along the way will include a "mysterious black" Melt pendant, electric blue lighting, and furniture upholstered in futuristic silver fabrics.

First time in 15 years Dixon will not show in Milan

Dixon often has a heavy presence at Milan design week, which will take place this year from 17 to 22 April 2018.

Last year, the designer converted an 840-seat 1950s cinema, named Teatro Manzoni, into his Multiplex space – where he brought together all the projects he had worked on with different brands over the past year.

In 2016, he created The Restaurant installation alongside Caesarstone, which was decked out with four fully-functioning kitchens and decorated with the designer's products.

Dixon has expanded his eponymous brand significantly over the past couple of years, opening permanent stores in both New York and Los Angeles.

Last year, the designer announced that he is to relocate his studio from west London to the city's King's Cross district – close to Coal Drops Yard, where designer Thomas Heatherwick is converting a collection of Victorian buildings into a new retail destination.