Gary Hustwit
Based in New York and London, Gary Hustwit has worked variously in music, publishing and filmmaking. In the late 1980s he worked with punk label SST Records, then during the 1990s he ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press. In 2000, he became vice president of media website Salon.com. The following year, he started the independent DVD label, Pixelfilm.
In the 1990s, he also designed several grunge typefaces, one of which was used by CNN. However, he claims he has no patience for the finer points of design.
He has made several independent films, including Moog, which recounts the life of the electronic music pioneer, Robert Moog. His latest film concerns industrial design. Called Objectified, it was released in 2009 and can be downloaded from iTunes. He made his directorial debut with the documentary film, Helvetica. Released in 2007, it ponders the question of how the typeface became so ubiquitous. The film was premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and subsequently broadcast on the UK's BBC 1. In 2008, it was nominated for Independent Spirit's Truer Than Fiction Award.
[LC, November 2009]
