Cluster Stool in Carved, Solid Wood by Craig Bassam

For nearly 20 years, architect Craig Bassam and creative director Scott Fellows have been redefining American luxury with their own unique modernist philosophy of “Craftsman Modern.” Building on successful careers in luxury and design, they are responsible for a collection of furniture whose distinctive style matches the most elevated craftsmanship to architectural rigor and sensual minimalism. They create aspirational products that will last generations for real, modern lives. From the outset, Bassam and Fellows had a unique idea of what a lifestyle brand could be. They aspired to an intelligent lifestyle vision. Their work would be inspired by early modernism and its appreciation for the natural environment, and be infused with the resonance of classic craftsmanship. Their work would also, crucially, be built to last – it would be an artful riposte to and rejection of the disposable nature of what architect and writer George Nelson described as “Kleenex culture”. This clarity of vision manifested itself in the company’s first collection, which debuted at the 2003 Salone del Mobile in Milan. The pieces included the seminal solid timber Tractor Stool, a contemporized version of an old Swiss tractor seat. The finished piece artfully married two disparate aesthetics: the rigorous authority of architecture and the honest, humanistic character of the handmade.