André Dubreuil & Tom Dixon - Coquillages Chandelier

André DUBREUIL (1951 – 2022) & Tom DIXON (born 1959, lives and works in London)

Chandelier, “Coquillages” model, unique piece, 1985.
Metal, stained glass and mirror set in lead, and seashells.
Diam. 121 cm (47 ⅝ in.) – H. 110 cm (43 ¼ in.)

Provenance: Rococo Chocolates, King’s Road, London.

This chandelier is tied to the meeting of the two designers. In the mid-1980s, the Rococo Chocolates shop on King’s Road called on the young Tom Dixon to weld its furniture and lighting. André Dubreuil, then a decorative painter, was working on the same site and came to help him finish a chandelier: he discovered welding, and never gave it up. Dixon went on to teach him the craft, and Dubreuil joined the London collective Creative Salvage for a time, alongside Dixon, Nick Jones and Mark Brazier-Jones, before developing his own, more refined style.

Literature:
Cut and Shut: The History of Creative Salvage, 2012, p. 107.

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