André DUBREUIL (1951 – 2022) and Tom DIXON (born in 1959)

Chandelier, "Shells" model, 1985.
Unique piece.
Steel, glass and seashells.
Diameter 121 cm – Height 110 cm

Origin: Rococo Chocolates, King's Road, London.

A truly historic piece: the chandelier with which André Dubreuil's career began.

In May 1985, Chantal Coady commissioned Tom Dixon to design the furniture for the renovation of "Rococo," her chocolate shop on King's Road, and called upon a young trompe-l'œil painter, André Dubreuil, to decorate the walls. This marked the first meeting between the two men. Tom Dixon and André Dubreuil collaborated on the shop's chandelier, André Dubreuil's first work in iron. It was at this precise moment that he "put down his paintbrush and bought a welding machine."

The chandelier later became part of the décor at Rococo, a meeting place for the Creative Salvage movement – Tom Dixon, André Dubreuil, Ron Arad, Mark Brazier-Jones, Nick Jones. It marks the very beginning of the journey that would make Dubreuil the "poet of iron." A seminal work and a true piece of design history.

Bibliography:
Nick Wright & Gareth Williams, Cut and Shut: The History of Creative Salvage , London, 2012, reproduced p. 107.