One day with Oberto Gili

INTERVIEWS | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA

For Oberto Gili, photography has never been about perfection. Over a career spent moving between New York, Italy and some of the world's most fascinating houses, he remains drawn to the details that reveal how people truly live. As he marks the launch of his new book Everything, At Once, published by Cabana, Oberto reflects on curiosity, observation and the enduring pleasure of finding meaning in the things others might overlook.

BY ALESSANDRO LARASPATA | MASTERS & MUSES | 8 JUNE 2026

Oberto Gili's home in Piedmont © Alessandro Laraspata. 

I wake up early, although not quite as early as I did when I lived in New York. That city had its own rhythm. There was always somewhere to go, someone to meet, a story to photograph. For decades New York was home, and I never had time to be bored. Now I divide my life differently. Bra, in Piedmont, offers another pace, one that is quieter, but no less stimulating.

The first thing I do in the morning is make coffee. Then I head outside. The garden is an important part of my day. I have always loved plants and flowers. Even when I lived in New York, I filled window boxes and balconies with greenery, nasturtiums to be specific. Today I spend time in the vegetable garden, growing tomatoes, and whatever the season allows. 

Growing your own food changes your relationship with ingredients entirely. A tomato picked from the garden tastes completely different from one bought in a supermarket. It reminds you that nature still works according to its own rules.

The garden is also a place of observation. Photography has taught me that the smallest details often tell the biggest stories. A flower leaning in the wrong direction, an unexpected color combination, a shadow crossing a wall – these catch my attention as much as a grand interior.

Everything, At Once: Places and People lensed by Oberto Gili, published by Cabana. 

My working life has changed over the years. I travel less than I once did, but I still photograph. There was a time when I was constantly moving between continents. New York, Europe, South America, endless assignments and endless flights. I was fortunate to photograph extraordinary artists, houses, gardens and people. Yet what interested me was never simply beauty.

People often ask what I look for when I enter a house for the first time. The answer is never furniture or decoration. I look for traces of personality. A house is like a suit of clothes. It tells you something about the person who inhabits it. It reveals character, taste and habits. Curiosity is essential because it allows you to move beyond appearances. 

Oberto pictured at home © Alessandro Laraspata.

The most interesting houses are not necessarily the grandest ones. Often they are the spaces where you can see layers of personality accumulated over time: books stacked beside a bed, flowers cut from the garden, objects collected during travels, traces of daily rituals. These details reveal more than any formal portrait ever could.

Curiosity is the most important quality a photographer can possess. I have always believed this. Technique can be learned. Equipment changes. Curiosity is what pushes you to look beyond the surface. It is what makes you notice the detail that everyone else misses.

That curiosity began early. As a teenager in Turin, I built a darkroom in my family's apartment. Watching an image appear on a blank sheet of paper felt like magic. Then I saw Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point. That film changed everything. Soon afterwards I left university and moved to London, where I worked as an assistant photographer. It was the beginning of a life that photography would completely shape.

Eventually I returned to Italy and met Achille Mauri. He encouraged some of my earliest projects. One of them involved photographing houses and artists. Looking back, I realise that many of the subjects that would define my career were already present from the very beginning.

Oberto surrounded by his work © Alessandro Laraspata. 

For years I lived between Italy and New York. The city gave me energy, opportunities and friendships. It was also where I learned that interesting interiors do not have to be formal or grand. Some of the most memorable homes I photographed were tiny apartments filled with personality and humour. A room does not need to be perfect. In fact, perfection is often the least interesting thing about it.

Later in the day, I usually spend time looking at books, photographs and archives. Inspiration comes from many places. Sometimes it comes from a great photographer. Sometimes from a painting, a garden, a film, or simply a conversation. I don't believe creativity can be forced. It comes from paying attention.

Cooking at home: Oberto's kitchen in Piedmont © Alessandro Laraspata. 

Evenings are often spent at home. I enjoy cooking and sharing meals with friends. A good table has always mattered to me. Not because it is formal, but because it brings people together. Flowers, candles, food, conversation, these things create an atmosphere that cannot be designed. They happen naturally when people feel comfortable.

Looking back at Everything, At Once, I do not see a chronology. I see fragments of a life. The book moves the way memory moves: one image leading unexpectedly to another. A photograph from New York sits beside one from Italy; a portrait beside an interior; a garden beside a still life. That is how I remember things.

Photography, after all, has never been about documentation for me. It is about noticing. It is about curiosity. It is about finding meaning in details that others might overlook. And after all these years, that is still what surprises me most: how much there remains to see.