Documentary
A fascinating documentary about Piet Zwart (1885–1977), an idiosyncratic and stubborn designer, who lived for innovation and prepared the way for the international success that is now known as Dutch Design. Piet Zwart worked as an interior and industrial designer, commercial typographer, photographer, critic and lecturer, playing a key role in defining the design climate in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century. He is especially known for designing the famous ‘Piet Zwart’ kitchen for the Dutch company Bruynzeel: a kitchen that could be easily produced and consisted of standardized elements. His versatility and influence on present-day designers led the Association of Dutch Designers to award him the title of “Designer of the Century” in 2000.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Shapeless Tracking
Mönsterberättaren Wanja Djanaieff
Objectified
Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production
The A’dammer - The Man Behind the Cabinet
Hanzi
Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker: Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary
Gray Matters
Saul Bass: Title Champ
Helvetica
Oso
Étienne Robial, un spécimen de caractère(s)
Peng. Von Augenblick und Ewigkeit
Valldaura: A Quarantine Cabin
Art & Copy
Pressing On: The Letterpress Film
The Gutenberg Enigma
Pajarito
Design ist niemals unschuldig
Blue Gold: American Jeans
SIMILAR MOVIES
Shapeless Tracking
IMDB 9 | Apr , 2026
Inside a computer a space-time is revealed in which image and sound become numbers and motion manifests as rhythm, flow and chaos. This tracking and integration experiment removes the superficial identity of video to detect kinetic disturbances in everyday environment.Mönsterberättaren Wanja Djanaieff
IMDB 0 | Dec , 2024
The life of Swedish designer Wanja Djanaieff is explored in this documentary made from 25 years of material recorded by her son.Objectified
IMDB 7.2 | May , 2009
A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production
IMDB 7 | Apr , 2017
Up until just over 30 years ago, when the desktop computer debuted, the whole design production process would have been done primarily by hand, and with the aide of analog machines. The design and print industries used a variety of ways to get type and image onto film, plates, and finally to the printed page. Graphic Means is a journey through this transformative Mad Men-era of pre-digital design production to the advent of the desktop computer. It explores the methods, tools, and evolving social roles that gave rise to the graphic design industry as we know it today.The A’dammer - The Man Behind the Cabinet
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2025
The A’dammer - The Man Behind the Cabinet follows the life of designer Aldo van den Nieuwelaar. He designed the iconic A’dammer cabinet, an international design icon, with over seventy versions sold worldwide. Museums acquired his work, and he became a promising name in the design world. But Aldo was more of an artist than an entrepreneur, and his perfectionism clashed with commercial interests. His tense relationship with director Harm Scheltens of furniture manufacturer Pastoe, in particular, escalated into a years-long legal battle over money, recognition, and control.Hanzi
IMDB 7.6 | May , 2017
Hanzi is a documentary exploring international design, visual culture, and identity through the lens of modern Chinese typography. The film covers a variety of topics such as how languages shape identity, and what role handwriting plays in the digital age.Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker: Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary
IMDB 2 | Jun , 2008
Xaviera Hollander, 'The Happy Hooker': Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary is a documentary about one of the world's most important sexual icons. Interviews with Larry King and commentary from America's foremost sexologists explore Xaviera's rise and fall, her deportation from the United States and Canada, and her political significance to the feminist movement.Gray Matters
IMDB 0 | May , 2016
Gray Matters explores the long, fascinating life and complicated career of architect and designer Eileen Gray, whose uncompromising vision defined and defied the practice of modernism in decoration, design and architecture. Making a reputation with her traditional lacquer work in the first decade of the 20th century, she became a critically acclaimed and sought after designer and decorator in the next before reinventing herself as an architect, a field in which she laboured largely in obscurity. Apart from the accolades that greeted her first building –persistently and perversely credited to her mentor–her pioneering work was done quietly, privately and to her own specifications. But she lived long enough (98) to be re-discovered and acclaimed. Today, with her work commanding extraordinary prices and attention, her legacy, like its creator, remains elusive, contested and compelling.Saul Bass: Title Champ
IMDB 6.5 | Oct , 2008
Set to a bebop jazz beat, this documentary brings to life the extraordinary work of graphic designer Saul Bass, whose groundbreaking title sequences for Hitchcock's films transformed the art of movie titles. Through interviews with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, this film reveals why Bass is still considered the medium's greatest artist.Helvetica
IMDB 7.2 | Sep , 2007
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.Oso
IMDB 6.6 | Nov , 2020
OSO is a journey through the history of a pop icon told by its own protagonists, the Tous family, Spain's most famous jewelers.Étienne Robial, un spécimen de caractère(s)
IMDB 8 | May , 2023
Documentary on the French graphic and visual artist and designer, editor, artistic director, and teacher who is known for his widely-used fonts.Peng. Von Augenblick und Ewigkeit
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2025
Peter Engelhardt - aptly named “PENG” - has dedicated his entire life to good design: as a renowned designer as well as a collector of everything that makes up everyday life in the 50s, 60s and 70s ... The well-known and the nameless, the precious and the superfluous, the special and the everyday. The Engelhardt collection once comprised over 30,000 objects. But the more Peter collected, the more space he needed - and the less money he had. The last stop for the time being: a dilapidated industrial wasteland near Bingen, rainwater and theft the biggest enemies. The preservation of the collection - or rather the fight against its destruction - in the old mine in Waldalgesheim became the 78-year-old's life's work.Valldaura: A Quarantine Cabin
IMDB 6 | Jul , 2022
A group of young architects, confined to a forest in Barcelona during the COVID crisis, explore the problems generated by the ambition of wanting to be completely self-sufficient.Art & Copy
IMDB 7 | Aug , 2009
The personal odysseys of some of the most influential advertising visionaries of all time and the stories behind their campaigns.Pressing On: The Letterpress Film
IMDB 6.8 | May , 2017
Why has letterpress printing survived? Irreplaceable knowledge of the historic craft is in danger of being lost as its caretakers age. Fascinating personalities intermix with wood, metal, and type as young printers save a traditional process in Pressing On, a 4K feature-length documentary exploring the remarkable community keeping letterpress alive.The Gutenberg Enigma
IMDB 7.5 | Sep , 2017
A portrait of the inventor of the letterpress, who was a key figure in the history of mankind, but also an enthusiastic inventor, a daring businessman, a tenacious troublemaker: the life of Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400-68).Pajarito
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2022
Manuel Andrade, after designing the Pumas logo, was forgotten in the history of the club. Today in the midst of poverty and his health problems, he decides to question the meaning of life.Design ist niemals unschuldig
IMDB 8 | Apr , 2021
Immersion in a world of contemporary design in search of more virtuous practices. In Helsinki, German designer Julia Lohmann uses seaweed to create dyed garments; in Amsterdam, Marjan van Aubel creates objects powered by organic photovoltaic cells; in London, the Superflux duo develops futuristic installations to alleviate potential food shortages.Blue Gold: American Jeans
IMDB 6.2 | Apr , 2017
Tracing the history of blue jeans around the globe.