Louise Fili

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Louise Fili, an Italian-American graphic designer, is known for her elegant use of typography and timeless beauty in her work.

Her artwork is often inspired by her obsession with Italy, Modernism, and European Art Deco styles.

Fili, regarded as a pioneer in postmodern book jacket design, explores historic typography mixed with modern colors and compositions. She began her career in book jacket design, designing over 2,000 book jackets during her tenure with Random House.

Her work has concentrated on restaurant identity, food-related graphics, and packaging since opening her own design studio.

Early life

Fili was born in Orange, New Jersey, on April 12, 1951, to Italian immigrants, who were both schoolteachers. Fili has said she was "interested in design before [she] even knew what it was," and as a child, she cut letterforms into her walls, modeled book covers, and produced illustrated Bob Dylan lyrics. Fili taught herself calligraphy when she was 16 years old, using a Speedball guide and an Osmiroid pen.

Education

Fili studied at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she studied studio art. She earned a Bachelor of Science in studio art from Skidmore College in 1973, where she discovered her passion for graphic design. Her senior project was an Italian hand-lettered cookbook. Fili migrated to New York City in 1973, studying at the Museum of Modern Art and finishing the last semester of her degree at the School of Visual Arts.

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Career

Fili began working as a freelance designer on special project books for Alfred A. Knopf from 1975-76. She was hired as a senior designer for Herb Lubalin, where she lived from 1976-78. Type became a form of communication, which laid the foundation for her later work.

She began working at Pantheon Books in 1978, where she ditched standard fonts in favour of creating unique typographic styles for each book jacket. Fili opted for matte, laminated coatings, which were both easier and more durable; her physical surface treatment extended to the physical appearance; fili discontinued the traditional shiny finishes and foil stamping on book jackets and foiled foil stamping in favour of matte, laminated coatings. "I was on a quest to show that you didn't have to yell to compel someone's interest." The Lover's cover, by Marguerite Duras, was certainly the best example of that." At Pantheon, the success of her jacket for Marguerite Duras' book The Lover in 1984 gave her more creative freedom. Fili wrote close to 2000 books during her tenure at the publisher.

Louise Fili Ltd, a restaurant identity, food-related graphics, and packaging design firm, was born in 1989. She wanted to "change the accepted formulas of food packaging" by finding quiet and subtle styles, and she believes that "one does not have to shout to be noticed." During that time, there were few female-run businesses, so she knew naming the corporation after herself might have been a risk. She responded positively by tweeting the following: "I have a problem with my being female, then I don't want you as a customer." Pearl Oyster Bar, Picholine, The Mermaid Inn, and Via Carota have all designed identities for Sarabeth's jam, Tate's cookies, and Bella Cucina. Lucian Bernhardt, A.M. Cassandre, Jean Carlu, and 1930s Italian posters show a strong link to European Modernism, including geometric, often Cubist-like designs.

Grafica della Strada, a collection of her Italian sign photographs, was published in Princeton Architectural Press in 2014. Graphique de la Rue: The Signs of Paris, a former Parisian writer, was followed in 2015.

Fili has written and co-authored more than twenty books, many of which she coauthored with her husband, design historian Steven Heller. Elegantissima, a monograph, was first published in 2012.

For its 100th anniversary, she redesigned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval in 2009.

She received three James Beard Award nominations in 2000, and since 1998, she has been an elected member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. Fili was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 2004. The Type Directors Club's lifetime award was given to her in 2015. She was honoured with the Frederic W. Goudy Award in 2021 for her contributions to typography, one of the highest awards in the field of typography.

Fili has been teaching at School of Visual Arts in undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome every summer. She has also worked at New School, New York University, and Cooper Union.

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