If you’ve spent any time scouring the arts and design scene in Bridgehampton, you’ve likely come across Exhibition The Barn on Maple Lane and wondered is it a gallery? A showroom?
It’s both, according to founder and creative director Elena Frampton, who curates the space. She took over the upper space as a studio and when she cleaned up the ground floor, she realized its potential “for something interesting.”
“It seemed like a perfect place to mix design, including furniture of my own design, with gallery display art works,” she says. “My client work is so involved that the space enables me some freedom to explore. I’ve created everything from art shows to design installations.”
Founder of Frampton Co. interior design studio, Frampton grew up in Pasadena, Calif., around art and architecture, and studied at Arizona State University in Tempe, where she says the desert landscape provided strong inspiration. She taught studio design at Parsons School of Design and has a work/live studio in the city, but calls Bridgehampton home.
Southforker: How did you get into the field and who/what were your early influences?
Elena Frampton: I had an interest in design art and architecture very early on. At the age of six I would visit open houses with my dad and then come home and draw the floor plans of the houses I liked — sort of a unique bird of a child!
SF: How would you describe your design philosophy?
EF: I see interior design as a creative art form, distinguished by mixing personal expression of ideas with functional parameters. I think a lot before I ever make a drawing or selecting materials. Once I conceive a vision, everything falls into place. Well, it does now after nearly 30 years of experience.
SF: How do you source your materials? And trends that are emerging or going away?
EF: I’m inspired differently on every project and so there really isn’t a formula, it’s a new exploration each time and good old-fashioned research. I would hope that personal style is making a comeback.
SF: What do you like doing in your spare time?
EF: I run my high-energy dog over by Havens Beach in Sag Harbor and play a lot of tennis.
Creative life and design work have fuzzy boundaries and so most of my spare time tends to be related to art.
SF: What are some of your favorite places on the East End?
EF: The Parrish Museum is top on my list of favorite places [for] the art, the architecture and the people. Lunch at the bar at Pierre’s—Niçoise salad and French fries. The bar at Almond might be packed 10 people deep in the height of summer, but they’ll get me a tequila rocks stat. Local spots always take special care of year-rounders.
