Louise Fili Ltd is a New York City–based design studio specializing in everything to do with food, typography, and all things Italian.
What is your work process? Do all of your projects begin with a tightly hand-drawn sketch?
louise fili: Yes. I love the sketch stage. This project was done on a very tight deadline—I had to come up with a name and then design the box, all in about a week. Fortunately, it all came together quickly and I managed to capture what I was looking for in the first sketch, which I then discussed with my senior designer, along with specific references for the script lettering, as well as the additional text.
How do you balance the old and the new, so that your work never seems to feel like pastiche?
My design language is often informed by vintage work, but my goal is to make it my own in some form. The Perfetto package draws from a number of sources—I think of the final product as my interpretation of these references.
Is this the first offering in what will be a Louise Fili line of merchandise? What’s next?
A set of colored pencils called Tutti Frutti!
In what way did the Doris pencil box provide inspiration?
It wasn’t any box in particular (I have many). Rather, it was the general idea of a pencil box as an object of desire. The concept of two-colored, double-sided pencils made the project particularly engaging.
Do you now use your own pencils?
Always! I never realized how useful they could be. I like to write lists in black, then circle or check off important items in red. People have responded very strongly to Perfetto—in this computer-driven world, something as prosaic as a pencil is extremely satisfying.
It was very exciting to see these for sale at the bookshop at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome!
product: Perfetto Pencils
client: Princeton Architectural Press
design firm: Louise Fili Ltd
art director: Louise Fili
designers: Louise Fili and Spencer Charles
hand letterer: Spencer Charles
medium: Pencil and digital
country: United States
