Biography

Tom Vack is a pioneer and a virtuoso of design and product photography. Since the 1980s, he has played a key role in developing a new visual language in design photography to showcase revolutionary postmodern designs. Vack, born in Chicago in 1948, began his career in the United States before working in Italy, France, and Germany. He collaborates with the most prominent architects and designers of our time, including Michele De Lucchi, Philippe Starck, Ingo Maurer, Ron Arad, and Massimo Iosa Ghini, to name just a few. T

om Vack’s design photographs are independent works of art in which the design objects point beyond their actual essence. Through creative lighting, the choice of bold perspectives, and the use of cinematic techniques, Tom Vack not only visualizes the forms and materials but also portrays in his photographs the aura of the objects and the visions of their designers.

“I still remember well visiting my father’s bar in Chicago, called Tom’s Lounge, as a young boy during the day. I was struck by the power of the atmosphere as I stepped into a world different from the sunlight outside. Today I know that I have used this first transformative experience as a compass for my work as a design photographer, not merely to show an object but to place it within an atmosphere. These furnishings and objects by some of the iconic designers of the 1980s and beyond were, in some cases—such as OWO, Sholapur, FSB, and the ‘Matteo’ vase—the actual subjects of my images; often the first glimpses of their arrival. Others were an exchange of craftsmanship, such as the furniture by Ron Arad, Massimo Iosa Ghini, and Ilkka Suppanen. The archival prints were produced in 1989, when I still had my studio in Chicago. These three selected pieces are one-of-a-kind. I cannot share with you the feeling I experienced back then, but I am delighted to share the fruits of this story with you.” (Tom Vack, 2024)

In 2014, the Pinakothek der Moderne honored Tom Vack with a solo exhibition titled “Vanity of Object.” Quittenbaum is delighted to offer several pieces of furniture and objects from the collection of this renowned photographer, as well as three archival prints produced by Tom Vack in Chicago in 1989.

Objects by Tom Vack