Craig Bassam, lead designer and co-owner, left, and Scott Fellows, co-owner, of BassanFellows at its headquarters, studio and gallery, a Philip Johnson construction in Ridgefield, Connecticut The Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art will be in the Schlumberger building from July 9 to September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A “short chair” through Marcel Breuer (1nine36-3nine) produced through Isokom Furniture Company, London, with a headquarters manufactured through Venesta Plywood Company, Tallinn, Estonia. Made of molded and laminated birch plywood. From a collection. Behind the chair is a “side table” by Marcel Breuer (1nine27) in chromed metal and lacquered wood. The pieces are in the exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art in the Schlumberger building, BassamFellows, from the ninth to the month of July. September 4 Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A BassamFellows organization designed furniture with other antique selections found in the Modern In Your Life: Design and Art exhibition at the Schlumberger building, BassamFellows, July 9-Sept. 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Fabrics designed through Olga Lee Baughman of L. Anton Maix Fabrics. They are in the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9 through September 4 Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A “miniature chest” through George Nelson Associates, n. style. ° 5211, (1nine55), manufactured through Herman Miller. A walnut box with facades of pink wooden drawers with wooden handles painted white and enamelled steel. The piece is part of the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021, from a personal collection.
A detail of a chair at the Modern In Your Life: Design and Art exhibition at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Floor lamp (four feet) (1nine54-67) via Philip Johnson and Richard Kelly. BassamFellows chairs, CB-50 sun loungers with design (2005) in walnut and leather. The pieces are in the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at Schlumberger’s Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
“City” via Josef Albers (1nine28 / 1nine36), temper over Masonite in the setting of an artist. The piece is in the exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger building, BassamFellows, from July 9 to September 4 Ridgefield, Conn. , Wednesday, July 28, 2021. From a collection.
The exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the BassamFellows Schlumberger Building, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A tour of Florence Knoll that is original and traditional designed for the Schlumberger building. Oak and stainless steel. The piece is part of the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
An old stackable chair (1nine36) through Marcel Breuer, produced through Isokon Furniture Company, London. Walnut plywood and birch folded and molded. The piece is part of the Modern In Your Life: Design and Art exhibition at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
The exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at Schlumberger’s building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
The exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at Schlumberger’s building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
BassanFellows CB-3nine6 Mesa Kant (2014) in walnut and Armchairs BassanFellows CB-540 with structure, (2015) in walnut and leather. The pieces are in the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, july 9 through September 4 Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Chairs designed through BassamFellows, adding a Bicorn chair (2017) in iroko and stainless metal with bronze. They are in the exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, from July 9 to September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut. , Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A circular dining table BassamFellows (2002) in rosewood saints and club chairs fronde (2017) . They are in the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A “side chair” through Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for the MOMA Organic Design Competition (1nine40). Produced through Haskelite Corporation and Heywood-Wakefield Company. Mahogany from Honduras, plywood hull of original upholstery through Marli Ehrman. The piece is from the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
“Siskiyou” via John McCracken (1nine88). A monolith made of polyester resin, fiberglass and plywood. They are in the Exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
A “short chair” through Marcel Breuer (1nine36-3nine) produced through Isokom Furniture Company, London, with a headquarters manufactured through Venesta Plywood Company, Tallinn, Estonia. Made of molded and laminated birch plywood. The piece is part of the Modern In Your Life: Design and Art exhibition at the Schlumberger Building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021. From a collection.
The exhibition Modern In Your Life: Design and Art at Schlumberger’s building, BassamFellows, July 9-September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Craig Bassam, lead designer and co-owner, right, and Scott Fellows, co-owner, of BassanFellows at their headquarters, studio and gallery, a Philip Johnson building in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The art will be in the Schlumberger building from July 9 to September 4 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 Behind them are a Kant BassanFellows CB-3nine6 (2014) walnut table and BassanFellows CB-540 design armchairs, (2015) in walnut and leather.
RIDGEFIELD — After years of efforts to achieve historic construction on the city’s former Schlumberger property, Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows have restored the design to its glory.
The public can now see the result of their efforts in an exhibition titled “Modern in Your Life: Design and Art at The Schlumberger Administration Building,” which runs through Sept. 4.
Bassam and Fellows founded their eponymous design company, BassamFellows, in 2003. The logo encompasses architectural and interior projects, as well as handmade furniture, lifestyle pieces and non-public accessories, according to their website.
The Ridgefield-based company is located southwest of the A Contemporary Theatre of Connecticut, the first advertising construction ever built by Philip Johnson. Built in 1952, it is through architects to be one of the most vital modernist constructions in North America.
“It originally served as an executive workplace building for doctors in the suburbs, which was a new concept at the time,” the fellows said.
Johnson designed The Glass House in New Canaan, the David H. Theatre. Koch at Lincoln Center and PPG Place in Pittsburgh.
Bassam and Fellows first stumbled upon ridgefield construction in 2010, but “finally got the keys” in 2016, Fellows said. They spent two years restoring many of the architectural features of Johnson’s original design, adding the recovery of the interior roof plain, manual sanding of the original carpentry, and recovery of its original metallic features.
“It was empty for 10 years before he had it,” fellows recalls. “All the fundamental elements were cut, there was a significant deterioration, so we brought him back to life. “
The purpose of the construction is an office, an exhibition hall and now a gallery with the appearance of a museum. Organized in collaboration with the commissioner of R
The exhibition includes antique furniture and fresh building art, drawing an applicable line between earlier modernist works and existing collections of bassamfellows.
“This is a history lesson in modernist design,” Fellows said.
Among the items are a grasshopper floor lamp that would have belonged to Andy Warhol, one of the first experiments on curved plywood through Harvard Five designer Marcel Breuer, who lived in New Canaan, and a combined media collage through Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy.
“This is one of the few Moholy-Nagy pieces in hand,” Fellows said.
The exhibition is fostered in part through Johnson’s Good Design exhibitions at MoMA in the early 1950s, which featured a design pedigree rooted in the region, according to a statement.
“Connecticut has played a vital role in selling modernism and foreign taste in the United States,” Zemaitis said in the statement. “From the bauhaus interiors assembled through Wadsworth’s director, Chick Austin, in his Hartford in the early 1930s, to postwar buildings. Harvard Five.
Bassam’s favorite pieces are a Breuer lounge chair and a side table produced in the early 20th century. “Before that, I saw them in the history books,” he said.
Fellows prefers the menacing forest green monolith located towards the end of the western walkway. It was designed by minimalist artist John McCracken in 2005. “To have one here without a security guard is amazing,” he said.
Bassam said the exhibit offers a more dimensional look at the history of the Ridgefield Cultural District designation and, since the Schlumbergers were avid art collectors, Fellows said, it’s helping to draw a full circle.
“Modern in Your Life” is open to the public through Sept. 4 by appointment. To make a reservation, click here.
alyssa. seidman@hearstmediact. com