Celebration of Light!

Last night’s celebration of light saw friends and colleagues from throughout the industry come together in honour of Diwali, for a fantastic evening with Tom Dixon. We welcomed industry-specialists for a unique evening with a talk by Tom on his diverse and inspiring product ranges – particularly his world-renowned lighting collections. Very fitting for a party recognising the festival of light celebrated by millions around the world.

Celebrating the meaning of Diwali

Diwali has been celebrated for thousands of years and traditionally marks the end of the summer harvest – it’s a happy coincidence that our last event was a Harvest Festival in aid of LDF! It acts as a celebration of light over darkness, and the name comes from the words for light or lamp (“dipa”) and row (“avili”). Our showroom in the Wharf Building was suitably decorated with rows of Tom Dixon’s stunning Etch tealights that echoed this origin. The Tom Dixon shop was aglow with their installations, warming up the rather dark and cold night outside! Given the Indian origin of so many of Tom Dixon’s accessories and materials, it’s the perfect nod to this culture and its role in the creation of these.

© Sphere8, 2022

Knowledge over ignorance

During the evening, Tom gave a talk on the work Tom Dixon are currently doing throughout Furniture, Lighting and Accessories, as well as a retrospective look at their various lighting collections over the years. From the hugely successful Melt lights, to the Etch range that featured in everyone’s goody bags, this was a chance to look at what made each collection a success and how they led to further developments. Particularly relevant was Tom’s look at the ever-popular Beat Pendant and its off-shoots, as this was made by Indian metal-workers at a time when their traditional source of work (water carriers) was dwindling due to new materials such as plastic invading the market. The Beat light varieties all exhibit the hand-crafted hammer marks from these workers and continue to provide a source of employment for these talented craftsmen. There was a lot to learn about the inspirations and developments of Tom’s work, which echoes the spiritual significance of Diwali as a symbolic celebration of not just light versus dark, but knowledge triumphing over ignorance!

As a festival, Diwali serves to bring together family and friends in celebration, and last night certainly did just that. With drinks flowing freely, including a Hibiscus cocktail courtesy of The Dock Kitchen, and a huge range of savoury and sweet Indian snacks, it was genuine evening of celebration and the shop glowed with light long into the night.

© Sphere8, 2022