Tom Dixon Adds a Restaurant to His Expansive Offices
"I’ve never really had an ambition to just have a furniture shop," Tom Dixon tells me by phone shortly after this year's London Design Festival, which saw visitors flocking to his Coal Office headquarters in London's King's Cross for a series of events and exhibitions. As if the multiple gallery spaces, factory, and shop, featuring everything from an exhibition on plastic furniture to a discotheque courtesy of Teenage Engineering didn't establish this boundary-pushing enough, Dixon has added a new aspect to the Coal Office: a restaurant, designed by Dixon's in-house firm Design Research Studio with food by chef Assaf Granit. With this addition, the Coal Office becomes less of a design studio HQ and more of a veritable miniature city centered around design—though not at all exclusive to designers.
"Retail is in a bit of an existential crisis at a moment," Dixon explains of his expansion beyond just a very cool store (of which his company boasts many, from New York to Tokyo). "It's always been my theory that the more varied the experience the more likely people are to stick around. The biggest struggle now is engagement, and our building lends itself to having a surprise around each corner."
Plus, to Dixon, who has designed everything from lighting to bathroom accessories, a restaurant didn't seem, pragmatically, so far off. "Once you’ve designed the interior and you’ve designed the serveware, why not get involved in what the people are actually eating?" he posits. "We were about to rip out the commercial kitchen, but then I decided it might be my only chance to have a restaurant." Plus, he admits, "I get bored easily."
It's perhaps for that reason that the Coal Office Restaurant you're seeing in the photos accompanying this piece may be much different from the Coal Office Restaurant you visit if you find yourself in the area, say, next year. "It’s in constant evolution," Dixon explains. "Unlike most restaurants, it will be transformed with the seasons; we’ll change out products and the look will evolve."
Indeed, for the inaugural decor alone, Dixon and his team incorporated a wide range of materials and atmospheres. "The downstairs lends itself more to the dark, moody industrial," says the designer. "The second floor is much more luminous and airy because it’s a new addition." Natural materials abound throughout, with plenty of marble and granite, as well as wide-plank wood floors and original brick walls lending warmth.
A six-seat prep kitchen, meanwhile, "is more space-age, with a nuclear reactor look with that stainless steel," Dixon explains. As for the cuisine? Appropriately, it's a bit of a mix as well. "I like the way that Middle Eastern food is a mashup of different regions, from Kyrgyzstan to Morocco," says Dixon. "I was born in North Africa, so I’m familiar with that. There’s something warm and welcoming about it."
Dixon hopes the restaurant's clientele will also be a mashup of sorts. "It was quite important to be in a place that would appeal to both designers and consumers," he explains of the choice of King's Cross. "I’ve been a West Londoner for most of my life so I was reluctant to go over there, but now I realize it’s not good to get lazy. It’s kind of the new London. There are a lot of buildings of character and then the art school provides a lot of creativity. We have a parade of fashion students every morning in their great outfits and just all different types of people."
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