Cluster Stool In Carved, Solid Wood By Craig Bassam

Some of the most innovative, powerful design takes its strength from its sculptural elements. In certain cases, it is a sense of fragility that offers impact. At other times it is the imposing, muscular heft of the object that strikes a chord, a strong sense of presence. There have been many influential pieces of design from the last 100 years that have come from a utilitarian place. The Bassam Fellows cluster stool is such a piece and was developed to meet a design brief for a large hospitality group.The cluster is a simple, easy to move object for sitting on, and it stacks neatly away without the need to be hidden. A group of clusters looks “on purpose,” and pleasing to the eye. It belongs to a canon of utilitarian, Modernist stools, and looks like the kind of ultra-functional object you may find in a Japanese onsen, a design that may have existed unchanged for centuries. It is stark, but the dip in the seat and the rounded taper of its four legs is elegant and sculptural.