Vignellis at Home: Photographs by Gary Hustwit

In 2013, filmmaker and photographer Gary Hustwit spent the day photographing Massimo and Lella Vignelli at their home studio in Manhattan. “I didn’t have any idea what I’d 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.” Vignelli passed away in 2014. Now Hustwit published a selection of those images in Vignelli: Photographs, a small-format hardcover book. Publication available here.

"Massimo Vignelli had a huge impact on my life and career. In 2005 he was the first designer I approached to be in my first film, Helvetica, and he was also the first on-camera interview I ever conducted. In a way, he helped launch my career as a filmmaker. I’m lucky that I was able to spend a lot of time with him and his wife Lella, who was his partner in life and design. Together they had a career that spanned over fifty years and almost as many disciplines: graphic design, product design, corporate identity, wayfinding, installations, architecture, furniture, jewelry, clothing, and so much more.

In May of 2013, I was getting more interested in still photography, and frankly I just wanted willing subjects I could photograph in order to get better at it. I thought about interesting people I knew in New York who might let me spend the day with them and be photographed, so I emailed Massimo and he graciously agreed. I arrived at the Vignelli’s apartment on the Upper East Side, where they’d lived for over 30 years. My main goal was to try to capture what it felt like being in that space with them at that point in their lives. Massimo always said a designer should be able to design everything “from a spoon to a city,” so nearly everything in the house was designed by them... the furniture, lighting, vases, dishes, cutlery. I spent hours photographing the contents of their bookshelves, their kitchen, everything.

I’m not sure why I’m obsessed with the little details in people’s homes and studios. The contents of a cupboard, or the variety of books and mementos sitting on a shelf. I think examining those details is just an easy way to glean more information about someone, what they love, why they do what they do. I find that I spend a lot of time in my films focusing on those details. 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 I admired, who were no longer with us. Looking at these images now, I’m struck by the range and brilliance of their design careers, and by their undying love for each other.
Sometimes a camera can capture a moment, or a sense of place, but it’s impossible to sum up two lives with a handful of images taken in one day. I’m grateful that the Vignelli’s invited me into their home to make these photographs, and I hope that their work, influence, and memory will continue to live on". - Gary Hustwit