Louise Fili, Creative Director at Louise Fili Ltd.
Interview 27th February 2019, Louise Fili Ltd.
Meeting people you’ve admired for a long time is always daunting. Are you going to enjoy their company as much as you enjoy their work? Well, that was an easy question to answer after about thirty seconds spent with Louise.
It is a very special skill to be able to talk about yourself without ever stepping towards bragging when there are so many things to brag about. Louise Fili’s most famous work includes dozens of branding projects for many well-loved restaurants, several books about European type design and lettering, as well as fully-fledged typefaces more recently. Her studio, Louise Fili Ltd., was created in 1989, after she worked for Herb Lubalin as a designer and at Pantheon Books as an art director. She has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City for many years.
Louise Fili greeted us in her studio, a lovely converted flat with a fully-functional kitchen and a view of the Empire State. She told us her previous studio had such a lovely view of it that it was one of the main criteria in her search for a new one. Wouldn’t we all wish for an office with a view of the Empire State ? We were worn out after an exhausting day spent running around in Brooklyn and the city, but all was instantly forgotten when she started sharing thoughts about her career and work, showing us books made thirty years ago and telling us about her passion for photographing street signs. She spoke about every detail in the work she showed us : the depth of the letterpress details on a small logo book, the search for a supplier of woven labels for a project. Everything was meticulously crafted from start to finish, just like her answers to our questions.
Maybe it was the warmth of the kitchen on a cold NYC winter day, maybe it was the sheer happiness of meeting someone both so inspiring and so generous : we felt like we shared a moment of extraordinary grace. Her wisdom and wit left us all feeling inspired and humbled in equal measure.
Thank you again for your warm welcome!
Website Louise Fili. Instagram: louisefili, Twitter: louisefili
By Marie Boulanger, Marie Tixador & Jingyu Li
February 27, 2019. 310 East 23rd street, suite 8f, New York City
