People -- 14 days ago
Words: Aobh O'Brien-Moody
Upon its initial publication in 1964, the Pirelli Calendar was intended as a niche, high-end corporate gift. Over the decades, it became globally recognised as a cultural phenomenon – a celebration of beauty, art and fashion through the lens of the world’s most renowned photographers.
For the 2026 edition of the prestigious publication, Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø, known for his otherworldly concepts and stylistic versatility, was enlisted to work his magic. No small task, especially when you consider the calibre of his star-studded cast, which included Susie Cave, Gwendoline Christie, Venus Williams, FKA Twigs and Tilda Swinton.
Sølve and his team took to the Norfolk and Essex coastlines to capture ethereal nature scenes, which were then blended into the backgrounds of in-studio shots, resulting in a unique fusion of nature and technology.
Before the big reveal of the images later this year, we caught up with Sølve and got a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the shoot, which captures a marriage of nature, technology and sensuality.
Tilda Swinton
How did it feel to be offered the opportunity to shoot the iconic Pirelli calendar?
Oh it’s a great honour. But also, I remember when I got the phone call and realised what was happening, I was thinking, “oh my god, it’s sort of like winning a prize and having to deserve it afterwards”.
What was your main aim for the 2026 calendar?
I think the main aim was to make it a personal calendar, something that was reflective of what I stand for and what I'm interested in. I think the way that you approach this concept isn't just, "Oh, it's beautiful women on a beach." That's certainly part of the history of the calendar and an important part of it, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you look at the whole history, it's a lot more. So I think there was room to explore what it could be. We wanted it to have a connection with nature [and to incorporate] elements of nature and not fall into a cliché at the same time.
Eva Herzigova
Eva Herzigova
How did you and the team decide on the cast?
That's a long process. Some of them were very obvious for me, some of them I’ve worked with for a long time and admire and really wanted to work with. But it's a process, because it's not only about who you would like to photograph but also who is available in that time window. And boring things that people don't really want to hear about because people just think they can point their finger and say, "I would like to work with you." It's not always like that.
Also, because of its illustrious past, there are a lot of incredible people who have already been in it, not only once but more than once. So you have to try to find your people.
Irina Shayk
How did you go about putting your own stamp on the calendar?
You sort of dream and you think and you know – it's almost like writing. You think, “what do I want to say?” and it all comes from your own temperament.
One of the ideas was the elements, because if you distill nature down to its core, you end up with elements – not the periodic table elements, but water, fire, wind, air, earth, those things. That's more what we were trying to do because I didn't want it to look like, "Oh, it's a beautiful meadow, a fake meadow in the morning light”. I wanted it more abstract than that.
Did you know that you wanted to focus on nature?
Yeah, absolutely. When you do something like this, when you have these enormous super high-tech screens, you have to have everything ready before you start. You can't snap your fingers – I guess you could if you work with AI, but we weren't working with AI; we wanted to work with the real deal.
Venus Williams
How did you pay homage to the illustrious history of the Pirelli calendar?
I think we can rephrase that question – for me, anyway, because I didn't want to pay homage to anything. You are part of a legacy when you do it. I didn't want to pay homage to it, but you want to exist inside of a tradition while at the same time not following it slavically, so this is the world I'm in – how can I make this my world? And present it in a way that's hopefully new and interesting.
When you were looking for inspiration for the shoot, what sort of references were you looking at?
I was actually looking a lot at my own work – how to do things that exist in my world already and then bring them forward. So, trying to develop something that sits inside my own world already… It’s very hard to escape yourself, right?
Susie Cave
Adria Arjona
Has your style developed over the years or do you always return to the same aesthetic identity?
I think it changes. I think it's a bit like bouncing a tennis ball while you're walking up a hill. You know, the tennis ball goes up and down so it changes constantly, while just slowly moving upwards or forwards. So I think it's like that. That’s why I think it's hard to answer the question, because you don't see it there and then but when you look at it with a wider lens, you can see oh yeah, things have changed. So yes, it’s changed, but I think a lot of the same elements remain.
Were there any memories that stood out from the shoot?
All of them! I mean these people are some of the most amazing people. And the fact that they give you the faith and the confidence and enter into your world and say, okay, let’s work together – it’s just unbelievable.
Du Juan
How do you go about making your subjects feel at ease when you're photographing them?
Just being honest, just being myself, just telling them what I would like to achieve. And then showing them references and having a conversation in advance, and saying, if you're comfortable with that, we'll do that and if you're not comfortable with that, we change it. And of course there's small tweaks and changes as you go along, but you show them everything. In a game like this, the rules are very simple: I’m not happy unless they’re happy. It’s a game of trust.
