In May 2013, Gary Hustwit spent a day photographing legendary designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli in their home studio. Vignelli: Photographs is a book that documents that day and celebrates their lives and work.
Hustwit was originally not certain what to do with the images. “But I wanted to try to capture the feeling of being in that place, with the two of them, at that point in their lives.” Massimo passed away in 2014. “I took over 400 photographs that day, and didn’t really have plans to do anything with them. But as the years passed, I saw these images as a kind of time capsule, a document of a day in the life of two incredible people who I admired, who were no longer with us (Lella was in early Alzheimers). … I sort of fell in love with the form of a 6.5” x 6.5” hardcover book. So I decided to publish a selection of the Vignelli photos that way, and I’ve partnered with the Vignelli Center for Design Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology so a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit design education at the Center, in memory of Massimo and Lella.”
Vignelli: Photographs is a refreshingly candid reminiscence of these masters of design formality, who contributed so much to the modern worlds of design. The standard 80-page hardcover is $40, and a deluxe edition of 150 numbered copies with an original photo is $150. You can order the book here.
