Ramak Fazel’s candid portraits of industrial designer Richard Sapper

As part of a new in-depth study of the work of German industrial designer Richard Sapper, photographer Ramak Fazel was commissioned to take a series of candid images titled Domestic Contours. Sapper, who died last year aged 83, was famous for his designs such as the Tizio lamp and the Brionvega Radio, and the astonishing output of his career is presented in a new book edited by Jonathan Olivares.

Domestic Contours shows Sapper at home and at work in Milan, Lake Como and Los Angeles. The commission was originally for Domus magazine and only covered Milan, but when Olivares saw the work, he asked Ramak to expand the series to cover all of Sapper’s workspaces. “The images convey the environments from which Richard’s products emerge,” writes Olivares in the preface. The atmospheric and calm photographs are packed with detail and character that offer a glimpse into the life of the designer and what made him tick.