British Invasion

Last night, Tom Dixon finally landed in America. His new retail space at New York’s ABC Carpet & Home—called SHOP—officially hung out its shingle with a cocktail party meant to hint, delicately, at the London-based designer’s Anglo background.

There were platters of fish and chips, vegetarian bangers and mash, Welsh rabbit, and Pimm’s with ginger ale and slices of cucumber. (No trifle? What gives?) Dixon designed the 1,000-square-foot niche boutique, and it is the only place this side of the pond to find his complete furniture and lighting collection, like the reflective Mirror Ball pendant lamps and modish Cone lights. The Swinging London–cum–Rushmore mood was enhanced by jangly Brit-rock from the Zombies and Cat Stevens, and by Dixon himself, who wore standard-issue British-schoolboy attire: blazer, V-neck sweater, tie, tousled hair. But as strains of Dusty Springfield’s 1963 hit “I Only Want to Be with You” came over the speakers, he announced his displeasure with the music. “It’s completely the wrong era,” he complained. “I’m not that old.”

For the full scoop on Dixon’s U.S. launch, see the February cover story.

Tom Dixon, Paulette Cole, CEO and founder of ABC Home, and Li Kurczewski, VP of creative merchandising at ABC.

Dixon and Cole

(Photography: Warwick Brown)