Photography by Vicky Lam

In collaboration with Caesarstone, British designer Tom Dixon has created an installation of ‘ice’ sculptures. The series of triangular prisms, titled ICE, stands at varying forms, sizes and heights. The form of the sculptures are inspired by jagged ice remnants, left behind by the daunting icebreakers that create channels to enable freighters to pass through Canada’s frozen lakes during winter. 

Created using caesarstone, ICE was recently unveiled at the Interior Design Show (IDS) in Toronto. It forms the foundation of the ice kitchen, creating the food preparation area, serving stations, surfaces and stools. 

This is the first of four kitchens designed by Dixon for Caesarstone, and the only one that has been globally launched to date. The entire series, inspired by elements of water, earth, air and fire, will soon be presented at Milan Design Week.

On a yearly basis, Caesarstone presents its signature surface through new installations that offer fresh perspectives on the material. Dixon, a self-taught designer who rose to fame with his personal line of welded salvage furniture in the ’80s is no stranger to groundbreaking material explorations.

“In our Toronto show we proposed a food preparation and consumption space, which draws on the analogy of the kitchen as an alchemist’s laboratory where raw materials are transformed into treasure through the elemental process of freezing, melting, shaving and cooking with ice.

“Where the contemporary kitchen seeks to hide the activities behind a series of minimal blocks, here we exposed the chopping, the steaming, the freezing, the scouring and the disposal of waste in all its active glory,” says Dixon, who is also the creative director of his eponymous label.

For each installation, Dixon will also propose a secondary material to form part of the installation’s narrative. In IDS Toronto 2016, he used an aluminium extrusion system developed for flat pack housing. The system charges the space with an industrial aesthetic, while lending structural and lighting support to the entire installation. Complementing the overall theme, Tom Dixon’s silver Melt Lights were utilised.

Tom Dixon
tomdixon.net

Caesarstone
caesarstone.sg