The Architecture & Design Film Festival (August 23-26) celebrates the unique creative spirit that drives architecture and design. With a curated selection of films, events and panel discussions, ADFF creates an opportunity to entertain, engage and educate all types of people who are excited about architecture and design. With well-attended screenings, legendary panelists, vibrant discussions and events in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, it has grown into the nation’s largest film festival devoted to the subject. The ADFF also programs for international film festivals as well as cultural institutions and private venues.

NOMA partners with the Louisiana Architectural Foundation for a preview screening of the short film Visions Not Previously Seen: The Groundbreaking Design Work of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, followed by the feature-length documentary Design Is One: Lella and Massimo Vignelli. 

This screening is co-sponsored by NOMA and Knoll.

ABOUT VISIONS NOT PREVIOUSLY SEEN: THE GROUNDBREAKING DESIGN WORK OF BARBARA STAUFFACHER SOLOMON

“To design is to see as in foresee; to draw visions not previously seen,” says the groundbreaking designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon in a new short documentary film about her work and life. A dancer-turned-graphic designer, Solomon was born in San Francisco but trained in Switzerland at the Basel Art Institute. Combining hard-edge Swiss graphics with California Abstract Expressionism, she defined “California cool” in the 1960s. (2018 | 15 minutes)

ABOUT DESIGN IS ONE: LELLA AND MASSIMO VIGNELLI

Two of the world’s most influential designers, Lella and Massimo Vignelli’s work covers such a broad spectrum that one could say they are known by everyone, even by those who don’t know their names. Adhering to self-proclaimed motto, “If you can’t find it, design it,” their achievements in industrial and product design, graphic and publication design, corporate identity, architectural graphics, and exhibition, interior, and furniture design have earned worldwide respect and numerous international awards for over 40 years.After Massimo brought the Helvetica typeface to America in 1965, he and Lella moved on to a diverse array of projects, including New York’s subway signage and maps, the interior of Saint Peter’s Church at Citicorp Center, Venini lamps, Heller dinnerware, furniture for Poltrona Frau, and branding for Knoll International, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ford and American Airlines. Luminaries from the world of design—from architects Richard Meier and Peter Eisenman to graphic designers Milton Glaser, Michael Bierut, and Jessica Helmand—bring us into the Vignellis’ world, capturing their intelligence and creativity, as well as their humanity, warmth, and humor. (2013 | 79 minutes)

Watch the trailer: