Whether it’s New York, Zurich or Hong Kong, the world’s international power hubs all share a certain cosmopolitan identity. But Silicon Valley—arguably the most powerful hub of our time—remains uniquely elusive. The epicenter of modern technology is, for many, a bundle of coder clichés—an Emerald City of Mark Zuckerberg doppelgängers in Cucinelli tees. With a new book, Tod’s is going beyond the digitally-enhanced surface to explore everyday life in the 46 square miles that house technology’s biggest titans.
Michele Lupi, whose official title is Tod’s creative visionary, spearheaded the project with Iranian-American photographer Ramak Fazel. The idea, Lupi told WWD, came from none other than Tod’s CEO and chairman Diego Della Valle. “[In Silicon Valley] they know everything about us,” Della Valle pointed out, going on to observe that “the fabric of their daily lives and the nuanced reality on the ground continues to escape us. What do their houses look like? How do they spend free time and where do they go after work to relax?”
To find out, Lupi and Fazel embarked on a 10-day trip throughout the region in late 2019, just before Covid-19 would make such intimate access impossible. The results are chronicled in Silicon Valley No_Code Life, the 190-page tome released at the end of March. The title nods to Tod’s ongoing No_Code initiative, which explores the intersection of craftsmanship and technology in projects ranging from sneakers to motorcycles.
Tod’s driving mocs have long been a staple in the wardrobe of international power brokers, so it’s fitting that the brand is honing in on the capital of the 21st century’s next-gen tycoons. While the larger initiative may be rooted in technology, the new book emphasizes the humanity behind all that sleek innovation. Fazel’s approach was as anthropological as it was artistic, turning his Rolleiflex camera on such idiosyncrasies as the garage where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed their first computer (as well as the elderly couple who still live across the street), the senior Apple employee who plays cowboy in his downtime and the suburban watering hole favored by coders and Cupertino locals alike.
As professional anthropologist Sarah Thornton observes in the book’s preface, Silicon Valley is “like Hollywood, primarily a myth and a business.” This book, however, paints a vivid picture of the very real place that the tech industry has made its home. With that in mind, we asked Fazel to share a few of his favorite shots that best capture Silicon Valley as he came to know it.
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “The chalk lines on the wheel of this motorhome speak to the struggle surrounding access to public space in San Francisco. These evidentiary markings allow municipal officials to monitor precise movement of vehicles in their enforcement of parking time limits.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “The four subjects genuflecting before the shire of ‘Our Lady of Peace’ shrine was a moment I was delighted to capture. As in other images, multiple layers add to the meaning, including the McAfee building in the background. The image was intentionally cropped in the camera finder to create the tension on the top edge of the frame.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “Standing in front of Steve Jobs’s childhood home, I was drawn to this staked tree. The garage in the background is the site where the ‘two Steves’ assembled the first Apple I prototype, adding to the lore of the garage as a site of innovation. The tree will grow, eventually dominating the modest yard in front of the home.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “This photograph of Gene and JoAnn Tankersley [who live across from Steve Jobs’s childhood home] in their living room is among my favorite portraits.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “The large foreground in this image references the ecology of The San Francisco Bay which is a dominant landscape feature of Silicon Valley. The moss and tidal sediment add more context to the photograph. The horizon line is dominated by three newly constructed office buildings and small hills visible from across The Bay.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “Relative to the A side, the B side of a sign can sometimes tell a more compelling sub-narrative. The public-facing facade is often the only glimpse available.”
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Silicon Valley No_Code Life
Image Credit: Ramak Fazel “This view from an upper floor of the Joseph Eichler-designed ‘The Summit’ shows downtown San Francisco shrouded in a light fog. During our brief visit to a private apartment, I was only able to make two exposures. Due to the weather, I had assumed the effort a failure. Revisiting the picture, I felt the fog added additional layers of meaning.”
