Mohawk Blog

BassamFellows Catalog: The Artistry of Black & White Imagery

Words

Mohawk

December 08, 2020

Bassam Fellows catalog photographed close-up

Artful black and white photography, printed as duotone images are reminiscent of vintage silver gelatine photographic prints.

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BassamFellows is a fully integrated lifestyle brand co-founded by architect Craig Bassam and creative director Scott Fellows. Grounded in the principles of impeccable craftsmanship, architectural rigor, and sensual minimalism, their pioneering Craftsman Modern aesthetic encompasses architectural projects and interiors as well as furniture, lifestyle objects, and personal accessories. Articulating that lifestyle, and depicting it, has been important to the founding partners of the brand since the beginning. BassamFellows' brand ethos is one of purpose and permanence, which made their decision to print a catalog one that they approached with the same care, consideration, and craftsmanship they do with their collection.

In a conversation facilitated by Print Consultant + Producer, Noel Tocci, of Tocci Made, we had the pleasure of interviewing BassamFellows Co-Founder, Scott Fellows, along with Art Director, Boris Bencic, and Photographer, Deborah Jaffe, who offered their insights on this collaborative project and musings on the art and alchemy of print and design in the modern world.

Cover of the BassamFellows catalog on a white background

Catalog open and laying upside-down to show front and back covers

Close-up of a picture of a modern style chair inside the catalog

About BassamFellows

"The whole idea behind our lifestyle collection is that it is meant to be an anti-fashion, fashion collection. Fashion is fleeting; it's here today and gone tomorrow. However, with architecture or furniture, you are trying to design it forever,” Scott shared. "Furniture is seasonless, it's trendless — and fashion is the exact opposite. We have always been drawn to quality, materiality, and craftsmanship – that's what we're trying to bring to the furniture business. In the fashion world, we wanted to design pieces with the same design intent as we design a piece of furniture. For example, we wanted to design a cashmere t-shirt that was long-lasting, that would not be trend-driven, that would always be beautiful, and we wanted it to simply be the best material and the best craftsmanship that we could create."

“Superfine has been trusted by generations of designers as the ultimate printing paper for their most important projects, including lush black and white photo reproduction.”

Chris Harrold

SVP Marketing + Creative, Mohawk

Close-up of a grid arrangement of the catalog pages

To honor this collection, Art Director, Boris Bencic, started the catalog design with a mood board, which included an iconic book of photographs by Alfred Steiglitz, printed on Mohawk Superfine. This book helped inform the use of Mohawk Superfine Eggshell and sumptuously printed, black and white product imagery. "Duotone printing on Mohawk Superfine is like a DNA-strand that has defined us over many years," says Chris Harrold, SVP of Marketing + Creative at Mohawk. "Superfine has been trusted by generations of designers as the ultimate printing paper for their most important projects, including lush black and white photo reproduction."

Covers of the catalog arranged on a table

What are Duotones?

Duotones are two color halftones that use two screens at different angles and two colors of ink on different plates to create more depth and contrast.

Many photographs have a highlight-to-shadow range that can be printed with a single impression of black ink. The duotone compensates for this limitation by dividing the image into separate areas biased towards either highlights or shadows. These areas are printed with two different plates, which may carry two blacks, a black and a single color, or two colors.

What duotones offer is the ability to expand the tonal range of a black and white image.

Press Sheets

Brodock

Close-up of the catalog pages coming off the press

Printed Catalog

BassamFellows

Bringing Brand to Life

The BassamFellows catalog was shot at Scott and Craig's home in Palm Springs, CA, and printed using Black and match deep Gray inks at Brodock in Utica, NY. Featuring models lounging lazily, bathed in desert light, and juxtaposed against the sculpted woodgrain, exquisite metal, and taught leather details of BassamFellows' furniture, each shot could be easily mistaken for a movie-still. And yet, they were simply but expertly-shot by photographer Deborah Jaffe on an iPhone. The results from this modest but intentional production evoke a feeling of Hollywood-glamour, and the printed duotone images are reminiscent of vintage silver gelatine photographic prints.

The catalog is deliberately unbound, allowing for loose sheets to be rearranged and pulled apart to use for mood boarding. The fluid nature of this format means the line is presented as both a cohesive body of work, but also that individual products can exist autonomously to be elevated.

Close-up of the press where the duotones were printed

On Press

Brodock

A person examining a BassamFellows catalog print

Press Test

Brodock

“We wanted to get the quality, that beauty, and that materiality with the paper that we have in our own product. I think that's a way to communicate our brand values as well — the touch and feel of the actual catalog.”

Scott Fellows

Creative Director, BassamFellows

Close-up of the open center of the catalog

"We were talking about it and we said you know, we really need to print this and make it beautiful," Scott stated. "And then the pandemic hit — and I think the idea that having something tactile, something that you could connect to when everybody is starving for connection, truly took hold. Now is absolutely the time that everybody just really wants to get something in the mail. They want to touch something, they want to feel that connection."

"We wanted to get the quality, that beauty, and that materiality with the paper that we have in our own product," Scott continued. "I think that's a way to communicate our brand values as well — the touch and feel of the actual catalog."

Close-up of a photograph from the catalog showing a woman sitting at a modern table

Close-up of a photograph from the catalog showing a modern chair

Not unlike countless examples from generations of designers, the subtle, elegant surface of Superfine Eggshell is the preferred canvas for BassamFellows' artistry and expertise, demonstrating beauty and quality in equal measure. This BassamFellows catalog would not look out of place in the gift shop of MoMA where their Tuxedo Bench resides, or atop your own coffee table.

Client: BassamFellows, Ridgefield, CT
Designer: Boris Bencic, Art Director, BassamFellows, Ridgefield CT
Photography: Deborah Jaffe
Producer: Tocci Made
Printer: Brodock
Paper: Mohawk Superfine, Eggshell, Ultrawhite, 100 Text (148 gsm)
Production: Offset printed duotones (black + PMS 426) + overall lay-flat aqueous
Binding: Text pages are folded then stacked. Cover wraps around the stack.

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Production Notes

Materials + Techniques

Duotone

Two color halftones that use two screens at different angles and two colors of ink on different plates to create more depth and contrast.

Printer

Brodock Press Inc.

Designer

BassamFellows

Materials Used

Paper

Mohawk Superfine

David Prince: Using Paper to Enhance Photography

Paper choice can influence the way we experience photography in a printed piece. Lightly colored paper can elegantly shift the tone of an image, while subtly textured paper can make a big statement. Have you ever thought how choosing the right paper can add a unique and surprising layer of interest?