“
Lou Fili
I have three interests
Biography
uise
2
One of today’s most notable graphic designers, Louise Fili was born on April 4th, 1951 in Orange, New Jersey. As the daughter of two Italian immigrants, Fili’s first love was food. At the age of 16, she travelled to her parent’s home country and discovered her other two passions in life: Italy and graphic design. She carried these interests with her back to America and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in studio art at Skidmore College, graduating in 1973. In 1989, Fili founded Louise Fili Ltd. in pursuit of her three life-long interests: food, type, and Italy. To this day, Italy has been Fili’s greatest source of inspiration and she returns there every year. On her trips to Italy, she frequents flea markets, book stores, and food markets with her husband. Her travels have produced a collection of ephemera and photographs to draw upon for inspiration. Beyond her own experience, Fili also takes inspiration from the past. She loves anything from the 1920s and ’30s, especially that which is French or Italian.
s: food, type,and Italy.
”
Louise Fili
Work & Career
3
Fili set out into the design world to pursue her interest in book design. She began her career in 1975, designing special project books at Alfred A. Knopf. Soon after, she became a senior designer for Herb Lubalin, where she worked from 1976 until 1978. Finally in 1978, she joined Random House as art director of Pantheon Books. Fili spent over a decade at Random House, designing more than 2,000 book jacket covers. Her work during this time reinvented the field of book jacket design. Fili left Pantheon Books in 1989 to establish her own design company, Louise Fili Ltd. Not long after, Fili came across a collection of pasticceria papers which were so beautiful that she fell in love with food packaging and restaurant design. Since then, Louise Fili Ltd. has created packaging for companies such as Sarabeth’s, Tate’s, and Bella Cucina and designed identities for many New York restaurants including Picholine, The Harrison, Noche, Artisanal, Metrazur, and the Mermaid Inn. Her work has set a new standard for restaurant and food packaging design. Throughout her career, Fili has received awards from every major design competition, including Gold and Silver Medals from the New York Art Directors Club, a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, the Premio Grafico from the Bologna Book Fair, and three James Beard award nominations. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationale, the National Design Museum, Denver Art Museum, and Musee des Arts Decoratifs. She has authored and co-authored over a dozen books, mostly with her husband, design historian Steven Heller. Perhaps most notably, she was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame in 2004.
Louise Fili
Book Design
Italianissimo: The Quintessential Guide to What Italians Do Best: Two spreads from the book, Italianissimo (or “very very Italian�). This guide to Italian culture profiles fifty Italian cultural contributions, both high and low. Coauthored and designed by Louise Fili.
4
5
Louise Fili
Packaging Design
Blue Q: Throughout her career, Fili has continually found inspiration in 1920s and ’30s Italian and French poster lettering design. These Blue Q shopping bags, made out of recycled polyproylene, were created from an archive of vintage European alphabets, labels and patterns.
Bella Cucina: Fili drew on a Mediterranean-inspired packaging design to match the Bella Cucina brand. Hand-colored engravings and delicate typography create an artisinal feel.
Restaurant Design
Louise Fili
6
Sfoglia: Sfoglia, Italian for handmade pasta, exists in both Nantucket and Manhattan. These two locations are represented by the two mermaids.
Picholine: One of Fili’s first endeavours into Restaurant design, “Picholine� (a type of olive) presented a challenging word to spell, pronounce, and remember. Fili created a logo to serve as a visual reminder, making the word and restaurant memorable.
Before & After SARABETH’S MAKEOVER A “Before & After” is often the most effective way to measure the sucess of a designer’s work. After 25 years of business, Sarabeth’s asked Louise Fili Ltd. for a brand redesign. Wary of the danger of losing brand recognition, Fili decided to keep Sarabeth’s signature jar and oval shaped logo to aid consumer recognition, while still improving the culinary company’s logo and typography. In the process of redesign, Fili recommended changing the jar’s typical gold cap to silver. Then the typography and border were simplified and fruit illustrations were replaced with more accurate versions. These changes created a more refined, clear and elegant look. The method of redesign for the jars was then applied to Sarbeth’s restaurants, bakery and kitchen, in addition to gift boxes and other Sarabeth products. Thus, Fili suceeded in preserving the essecence of Sarabeth’s classic identity while at the same time giving the brand much-needed new life.
7
Louise Fili
“
A personal style is one that constantly evolves. - Louise Fili
Louise Fili
�
8
ouise Fili’s art is the product of her three passions in life: food, type, and Italy. While she began her career in book design, she has since found her way to restaurant and package design. This ability to reinvent herself while still drawing on her own personal style and inspirations is perhaps the most impressive part of her career as a designer. Today Fili is known for having great influence in both the worlds of book and type design and the realms of restaurant and packaging design. Her work at Louise Fili Ltd. incorporates all of these interests, specializing in logo, package, restaurant, and book design. In addition to designing for Louise Fili Ltd., Fili continues to teach at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York, where she has taught for over 20 years. Every summer, she returns to Italy with her husband to teach at the school’s Masters Workshop and to find inspiration in her favorite place in the world. Given her history of reinvention, it is hard to say where her career will go next.
9
Victoria Sgarro is a sophomore studying Comparative Literature and Communication Design at Washington University in St. Louis. She wrote and designed this book in April 2013 in InDesign using Didot and Scala Sans typefaces. Louise Fili’s website, typography, and book design served as inspiration.
in Rome, Italy (2009)
Works Cited Sources http://www.louisefili.com http://www.fromyourdesks.com/2011/02/25/louise-fili/ http://www.designsponge.com/2009/01/sneak-peek-louise-fili.html http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=6 http://www.printmag.com/Article/Louise-Fili http://www.lanciatrendvisions.com/en/article/interview-with-louise-fili http://www.beyondtheperf.com/biography/louise-fili