In Memoriam: Gail Fredell & Paul Sasso

Gail designed and executed projects ranging in scale and scope from func­tional, resi­den­tial furni­ture to public sculp­ture instal­la­tions, for both inte­rior spaces and landscape settings.

Her work was informed by an upbring­ing grounded in the natural land­scapes of the Amer­i­can West, a life-long inter­est in Japan­ese design, and by her archi­tec­ture educa­tion at UC Berke­ley. She was recog­nized as one of the pioneer­ing women furni­ture design­ers and makers, who since the late 1970’s had owned and oper­ated an indi­vid­ual studio furni­ture busi­nesses, creat­ing unique work for gallery and museum exhi­bi­tions and both private and public commissions.

Gail was the former Direc­tor of Programs and Devel­op­ment at The Furniture Society.

“I knew Gail after she had moved to Rhode Island. I believe I first met her in 2007 at the Furni­ture Society confer­ence in Victo­ria BC. I had known about her and her work for a while before that.”

​“Gail was the insti­tu­tional memory for studio furni­ture makers. I loved her work. In the shop she had an impres­sive sense of preci­sion and purpose. Her work was informed by her train­ing in archi­tec­ture and a minimal aesthetic and the preci­sion that kind of approach requires. She used a rich pallet of mate­ri­als and colors.”

​“I have heard from so many friends who knew her far longer than I did. I shared the saga of rescu­ing (her dog) Rosie and heard from many friends. We will miss her, and Rosie will remind us of her every day.”

- David Richard­son, friend, fellow studio artist

Paul was renowned for creat­ing impec­ca­bly crafted, heavily embell­ished and func­tional art pieces. He is Profes­sor Emer­i­tus from Murray State Univer­sity where he taught wood­work­ing. During his tenure, he received several awards for teach­ing excel­lence and inspired many students to embark in a reward­ing career of being a furniture artist.

Paul’s rela­tion­ship with The Furni­ture Society goes way back. Paul was the Exhi­bi­tion Commit­tee Chair and curated the first TFS exhi­bi­tion Survey of North Amer­i­can Studio Furni­ture at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY — in conjunc­tion with TFS’ conference FS97.

“This commu­nity has lost an incred­i­ble artist and one of the people who laid a foun­da­tion for contem­po­rary studio furni­ture through his teach­ing. To say that he was a mentor to his students would be a vast under­state­ment.” ‑Craig Nutt