Louise Fili: Books & Book Covers on Display Beginning June 9

Beginning today, June 9th, the books and book cover designs of Louise Fili will be on display in the library's outer lobby as one in a series of Art at the Lake Forest Library exhibits.  Fili designed some 2000 book jackets as art director of Pantheon Books from 1978-1989.  She then opened her own design studio, Louise Fili Ltd., where she has specialized in the design of food packaging and restaurant identities.

In a 2013 interview with Tina Essmaker for THE GREAT DISCONTENT magazine, Ms. Fili was asked if creativity had been part of her childhood.  Here's her reply:

My parents, who were very old-world Italian, were immigrant schoolteachers and couldn't make anything out of my interest in art, so I was really on my own, which I think is just as well.  I learned to navigate around my interests in art and books. On Saturdays, I used to go the public library and spend the day there, reading and looking at books, although as I recall I wasn't just looking inside - I was studying the covers, too.  I enjoyed the whole tactile quality of books.

Listed here are books by Louise Fili and books co-written with her husband Steven Heller, Art Director at the New York Times.

Books by Louise Fili

Titles owned by Lake Forest Library are in bold with call number.  Other titles are available through Inter-library loan (ILL) to LF cardholders.

 

Elegantissima: the Design & Typography of Louise Fili
Princeton Architectural Press, 2012.

741.6 ELE

Italianissimo: the Quintessential Guide to What Italians Do Best

Little Bookroom, 2008.

945 FIL

 

Grafica della Strada: the Signs of Italy 

Princeton Architectural Press, 2014

686 FIL

The Civilized Shopper’s Guide to Florence

Little Bookroom, 2007.  ILL

With Steven Heller

British Modern: Graphic Design between the Wars

Chronicle Books, 1998.  ILL

Deco Espana: Graphic Design of the Twenties and Thirties

Chronicle Books, 1997.  ILL

Deco Type: Stylish Alphabets from the ‘20s and ‘30s 

Chronicle Books, 1997.  ILL

Dutch Moderne: Graphic Design from De Stijl to Deco

Chronicle Books, 1994.  ILL

Euro Deco: Graphic Design Between the Wars 

Chronicle Books, 2004.
741.6 HEL

French Modern: Art Deco Graphic Design  Chronicle Books, 1997.  ILL

German Modern: Graphic Design from Wilhelm to Weimar  Chronicle Books, 1998.  ILL

Italian Art Deco: Graphic Design between the Wars   Chronicle Books, 1993.  ILL

Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design’s Golden Age  

Thames & Hudson, 2012. 745.61 HEL

Streamline: American Art Deco Graphic Design  Chronicle Books, 1995.  ILL

Stencil Type  

Thames & Hudson, 2015. 745.73 HEL

Vintage Type and Graphics: an Eclectic Collection of Typography, Ornament, Letterheads, and Trademarks from 1896-1936 

Allworth Press, 2011. 745.6 HEL