Part fine-art print, part book and part collectible design object, Frames of Legends introduces a new way of experiencing motorsport photography. Volume One is dedicated to Sir Jackie Stewart and features seven photographs selected by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch from his own archive.
Some photographs belong on a wall. Others deserve to be studied slowly, page by page. Frames of Legends was created around the idea that they can be both.
At first glance, the object appears to be a single framed fine-art photograph. But lifted from the frame, it opens by hand like a book, revealing seven double-page photographic spreads inside. Each of these can become the visible face of the frame, allowing the owner to change the image on display whenever desired.
Instead of choosing one photograph and committing it permanently to the wall, Frames of Legends turns an archive into something that can continuously change.
See it move on the wall. Video
A Frame That Opens Like a Book
The concept is based on a magnetic construction developed over more than a decade and protected by patent.
The first Framebook consists of 16 magnetic pages made from fine-art paper and an ultra-thin flexible magnetic film. Museum-grade giclée printing is used throughout, while the complete volume sits inside a handcrafted white wooden frame with a horizontal tartan band.
The mechanism itself remains deliberately simple. The book is held magnetically in the frame and can be released by rotating it from the aligned magnetic strips.
There are no batteries and no screens. The only embedded technology is an NFC tag used for authentication and registration, complemented by a numbered certificate.
The result is something that feels closer to a collectible design object than to a conventional book.
Volume One: Sir Jackie Stewart
The first edition is dedicated to Sir Jackie Stewart.
For Volume One, Rainer W. Schlegelmilch selected seven photographs from his own archive. Together, they create a visual tribute to one of motorsport’s most important figures.
Rather than presenting the photographs as a conventional sequence, Frames of Legends gives each image the opportunity to become the front of the object. One photograph may remain visible for weeks before the frame is opened, another spread selected and the character of the piece changed completely.
That interaction is central to the concept.
Photography, Design and Craft
Frames of Legends is designed in Switzerland by Sandstudio in Lugano and handcrafted in Italy.
The open book measures 45 x 30 cm, while the complete framed object measures 61 x 46 cm.
The design deliberately avoids turning the project into a digital display. Its appeal comes from physical materials: paper, print, wood and the almost invisible magnetic structure that allows the photographs to function in two different ways.
Closed, it is a framed photograph.
Opened, it becomes a photographic sequence.
And unlike a traditional book, any of those photographs can become the face of the object again.
A Limited Edition of 133
Framebook Vol. 01 is limited to a total of 133 copies.
The Circle Edition consists of 99 examples. A further 27 copies are signed by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, while the rarest edition consists of just seven examples signed by Sir Jackie Stewart and available by application.
This limited production reinforces the idea that Frames of Legends is intended as a collectible object rather than a mass-produced photography book.
In Partnership With Race Against Dementia
Volume One has also been created as an official partnership with Race Against Dementia, the charity founded by Sir Jackie Stewart following Lady Helen Stewart’s diagnosis.
This gives the first edition another dimension beyond photography, design and motorsport history. It connects the story of one of Formula One’s greatest champions with a cause that has become deeply personal to Stewart.
A New Way to Experience an Archive
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Frames of Legends is that it does not fit neatly into an existing category.
It is not simply a book.
It is not simply a framed print.
And it is not a digital display automatically moving from one image to another.
Instead, the owner decides when the image changes, physically opening the object, moving through the photographs and selecting the next one to display.
For an archive as rich as Rainer W. Schlegelmilch’s, that feels particularly appropriate.
Rather than reducing a collection to a single iconic image, Frames of Legends makes the act of choosing part of the experience.
And with Sir Jackie Stewart as the subject of Volume One, it begins with one of motorsport’s true legends.
Frames of Legends – Framebook Vol. 01
Subject: Sir Jackie Stewart
Photography: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch
Designed in Switzerland, handcrafted in Italy
Limited edition of 133 copies
More information: framesoflegends.com
Photos by Frames of Legends. Rainer W. Schlegelmilch/ Studio Kilo
