Tom Dyckhoff

Tom Dyckhoff has worked in many different media channels, almost all of them in fact, including TV, radio, online media, print and even exhibitions. Being a British writer, broadcaster and historian on architecture, he has a wide range of knowledge on the design principles of buildings and cities as well as the interior within said buildings and cities. Because of this, he s currently a presenter of an interior design competition show on BBC, which we’ll get to later.

The reason Tom Dyckhoff is on our list of Interior Designer which inspire us can seem a little odd since he is more known for the writing that he does rather than the interior design projects he creates. Well to be honest with you, for us it more or less started with his book; ‘The Age of Spectacle’ which discusses the new trends of architecture which we are seeing in the 21st century that is not only damaging to the cities that the building inhabit but as well as the people who are within them.

Why this book was so fascinating to us is that he considers the fact that this new sharp, quirky buildings may look beautiful but do they really support the people that use them…and this is something we think about when we come to create a new project, we are constantly thinking about these things and tirelessly making sure that the bespoke furniture or bespoke decor we create is quirky (just how we like it) as well as practical for the individual who it is intended for.

Tom Dyckhoff Interior Design

As we stated before, Tom Dyckhoff Interior Design career is known for his writing on the subject as well as the many TV shows and radio he has partaken in, rather than the projects he physically worked on, but regardless of that fact he still had and continues to have an amazing career within and outside of this specific industry.

Beginning his career at Perspectives on Architecture which was and still is the Prince of Wales architectural magazine, he continued to work there before becoming an editorial assistant at Design magazine leading on to become an exhibition curator at the Royal Institue of British Architects in 1998.

Notably, he was the editor of “Space” between the years of 1999 and 2003. The Space magazine was the Guardians newspaper’s section on design and home, where he worked on their weekend edition.

To read more about his widely successful career, find it all here

Tom Dyckhoff TV Appearances

Known for his writing and radio shows, Tom Dyckhoff has also had many mainstream tv appearances, from being a guest on the show to chime in with his uncontested knowledge to presenting his very own BBC programmes for millions to see. Is there anything Dyckoff hasn’t done? Who knows…

Anyway, further on is all the worthwhile appearances Tom has made over the years of his career, we’ll explain a bit about the show and the purpose of him being on screen although we’d recommend just going ahead and watching these programmes for yourself to get a true understand of what Tom Dyckoff has to say on particular matters.

Tom Dyckhoff: the Secret Life of Buildings

Dyckhoff, in a three-part series created for Channel 4 called “Tom Dyckhoff: the Secret Life of Buildings”, looks into the unspoken and the neglected part of the architecture, even when the architects create the buildings as well as once they have been created, we ourselves completely forget this particular aspect. We are no longer concerned with how they may affect the way we think and feel, for many recent years architects, as well as the humans that inhabit these spaces, are more interested in how the buildings look rather than how they could be influencing the way we think and feel due to their alternative design and their take on modern architecture and interior design as a whole.

Tom believes artistry and economics of a building should once again become secondary to our wellbeing, we should encourage architects too to build spaces that allow us to be humans, functioning in a way that helps us be our best selves, creating our best work; if we’re at work and allow us to enjoy your valuable leisure time; when we’re at home.

Not only does he talk about the commercial buildings that we are surrounded by in our cities and towns, Dyckhoff, in the first episode ‘Home’ discusses the ways in which our very own homes, which to most of us are 90% our own creation, could too be negatively impacting how we think and feel, just like the corporate plagued architectural design that is apparent outside of our homes. He discusses things you should look out for, perhaps changes you yourself can do.

Of course, with all of Tom’s work, we’d love for you to go experience it for yourself but there are only so many words we are able to type that can truly do him and this show justice, below are a few YouTube links that are able to take you to the relevant episodes we have found on YouTube;

Tom Dyckoff TV Appearances

Below are a few more notable appearances Tom Dyckhoff has made on our television screens, just like above, whether that’s being a guest on the show or presenting an entire series. And just as before, we are going to explain a little about the show as well as Dyckhoff’s purposes for being a part of that show; the valuable knowledge he equipped us with to help us understand such a fascinating but highly skilled industry.

The Great Interior Design Challenge

Each series in The Great Interior Design Challenge programme aims to find “Britain’s best amateur interior designers”. Presented by Tom Dyckhoff, doing what he does best. Each new episode introduces a new location, which holds distinctive architecture values whether they are currently past or present of Britains history which focuses on a few contestants at a time. Each participant is given the main challenge – which is usually to completely make-over a select room for their allocated client as well as an additional smaller task – such as creating a piece of bespoke furniture or bespoke decor to go in their select room.

Tom Dykhoff is exceptional in The Great Interior Design Challenge Series 4 because we feel he has grown into his role the most, understand that at this point, what the viewers of the show wanted such as the information and insight he was able to provide, especially on the particular episodes of “Modernist” and “Mock Tudor Houses” in series 4. We can clearly see series 4 is the best yet in the series simply by the rise in viewership, especially for these two episodes which peaked at 4 of BBC Two’s weekly rank rating.

For a list of all the episodes, check them out and make sure to watch them all here.

The Culture Show

Although not the main presenter of the show, Tom Dyckhoff presented a few selected episodes of The Culture Show, mostly the ones which focused on architecture as well as interior design. As this show was a weekly publication acting as the BBC Two’s arts magazine programme, it focused on the best arts and culture news, along with any relevent art film, arhcitecure music, visual fashion performing arts and covering books.

A few of Tom Dyckhoff’s notable episodes, which played into his key strengths as an architectural historian was ‘Lego: The Building Blocks of Architecture’ and ‘The People’s Palace’, covering 6 episodes in total it is unknown. As of the date this article is published, if Tom will ever present another episode of The Culture Show but at the very least we hope so and we have no doubt he will be called up once again they need his valuable insight on the architectural world.

Although Tom Dyckhoff isn’t as included as he once was, The Culture Show is still worth a watch

The Genius of Design

Documenting on the history of design, The Genius of Design, the BBC focuses on the inventions that have changed and shaped the way we live in our homes as well as the other interior spaces we use day to day. Whether thats fitted kitchens or the ring pull of your lemonade can. Leaving no decade uninvestigated, each episode focus on a key point in design where it was at its most important – where it featured its most important twist in the formula.

Dyckhoff partakes in only one of the episode, and as usual, this particular episode because it is all about the designs of living, which gives the viewer an understanding in how the movement and radical change of interior design would soon become apparent around the times of the ’20s and ’30s. As always Tom gives offers the viewers the opportunity to get an insight into the design choices of the time, how they have affected us today and whereabouts we still us particular methods.

This particular episode is absolutely perfect for Tom Dyckhoff, simply because it targets all of his strengths, an interest in historical architecture and his ability to be on TV. We urge you to watch the full episode yourself here.

Saving Britain’s Past

Presenting the show, Tom Dyckhoff’s Saving Britains’s Past discusses the battle between breathless spaces we are creating today in relation to the heritage and environmentalism of old British architectural ways, with observation into the ways we are able to retrain traditional rural land management. Unlike many of the other presented shows by Tom Dyckhoff, perhaps this is relevant since it is one of his first pieces of televised work, the show isn’t too accessible to viewers and feels more like an informative TV show for those who are already in the architectural space.

However, architecture is a fascinating and complex subject, the language used although may seem complicated to those who are not familiar with the industry is necessary to the proper explanation of architecture as such language has been used for many years and there should be no reason for it to disappear now just because it comes to us on our television screens on a Monday evening.

If you’re interested as we are into what Tom has to say, check out the full episode here.