Dezeen Magazine

Bradford Shellhammer portrait

Fab's ex design chief and Tom Dixon to start a rock band

News: three months after leaving online retailer Fab, its co-founder and ex design chief Bradford Shellhammer has announced that his next career step will be to form a rock band with British designer Tom Dixon.

Shellhammer (pictured) will provide lead vocals for the band Rough, while Dixon - who began his career welding live on stage - is to play bass guitar. "We've been talking about it for like a year," Shellhammer told Co. Design.

The duo is hoping to launch during Milan design week in April and is looking for a female designer to join the group. "We're actively seeking a woman in the design world," Shellhammer said.

If that's not enough to keep him busy, Shellhammer has also launched a new retail and design consultancy. Shellhammer.co will offer creative advice and strategies as well as product, interior and graphic design services.

Shellhammer announced he was leaving Fab, the company he co-founded and worked on for four years, in November last year.

From humble beginnings as social network in 2010, Fab grew into a flash sales site claiming 7.5 million members in 20 countries just two years later.

During an interview with Dezeen last September, Shellhammer discussed what made Fab so disruptive to the design retail and supply chain.

In 2012 Fab closed its UK site and moved its European operations to Berlin, and in 2013 the firm announced it would design its own range of furniture and homeware.

Fab announced another change in strategy earlier this month, ending its relationship with external designers and brands across Europe and focusing entirely on selling its own custom-designed furniture.