Remembering Massimo Vignelli (1931–2014)

Today, we celebrate and honor this unique designer.

Massimo Vignelli studied architecture in Milan and Venice. While still a student in Venice, he worked for Venini from 1953 to 1957, creating a series of glassworks known as a spicchi, glass windows, drinking glasses, pitchers; as well as light fixtures such as Sigaro hanging lamp and table lamp Fungo. In the late 1950s he earned a fellowships to study in the United States at Towle Silversmiths in Massachusetts and the Institute of Design at IIT in Chicago.

In 1957, Massimo Vignelli married Lella Valle. Together they established the Vignelli Office for Design and Architecture in Milan, where they designed domestic products and furniture, office accessories, calendars, and graphic identities. In 1965, Massimo and Lella became co-founders of Unimark International, a design agency for corporate identity, transportation graphics, and product design based in Chicago, New York, and Milan. Massimo was one of the first to introduce modernist typography and visual communication to the United States, making great use of the typeface Helvetica. In 1971, he and Lella founded the design firm Vignelli Associates in New York, creating everything from corporate identity systems, packaging, products, and furniture, to interiors, signage, and showrooms.

Massimo’s work is in major museum collections worldwide. His many accolades include: the Gran Premio Triennale di Milano, 1964; Compasso d'Oro, 1964 and 1998; the AIA 1973 Industrial Arts Medal; the Art Directors Club 1982 Hall of Fame; the 1983 AIGA Gold Medal; the first Presidential Design Award; the Interior Design Hall of Fame, 1988; the National Arts Club Gold Medal for Design, 1991; the Interior Product Designers Fellowship of Excellence, 1992; and the Brooklyn Museum Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, 1995.

Massimo's design philosophy was Design is One: if you can design one thing you can design everything.

The publisher Lars Müller describes Massimo Vignelli thus: “He was one of the seminal figures in the development of visual communication in the second half of the twentieth Century. His rules and principles, and his staunch faithfulness to them, predestined him to leave behind a book that has became a standard: The Vignelli Canon”.

The Vignelli Canon is an essential book of design guidelines, in which Massimo concludes:

“Throughout our creative lives we have sifted through everything to select what we thought best. We sifted through materials to find those for which we have the closest affinity. We sifted through colors, textures, typefaces, images, and gradually we built a vocabulary of materials and experiences that enable us to express our solutions to given problems—our interpretations of reality.

It is imperative to develop your own vocabulary of your own language—a language that attempts to be as objective as possible, knowing very well that even objectivity is subjective.

I love systems and despise happenstance.

I love ambiguity because, for me, ambiguity means plurality of meanings. I love contradiction because it keeps things moving, preventing them from assuming a frozen meaning, or becoming a monument to immobility.

As much as I love things in flux, I love them within a frame of reference—a consistent reassurance that at least and at last I am the one responsible for every detail.

And that is why I love Design”.

Magazzino Italian Art keeps Massimo’s spirit and design philosophy alive through the attention and care of our designers Beatriz Cifuentes and Yoshiki Waterhouse, who were his protégés for 15 years. Their work for us continues the Vignelli legacy in every aspect of Magazzino's graphic design, from our identity to our posters, publications, programs, signage, and more.

Magazzino Italian Art and New York will never forget you, Massimo!