A family of artists isn’t the most outlandish concept; in fact, it stands to reason. Like-minded creatives drawn to each other and then raising children with similar artistic interests and skills? Well, that just makes sense. What’s a more surprising feat is a family of artists in which each member is immensely successful and talented in their own right, independent of one another, making names for themselves as individuals. This is the case for the Heller-Fili family, composed of artists Steven Heller, Louise Fili, and Nicolas Heller.
Design legend Steven Heller served as an art director at the New York Times for 33 years, primarily for the New York Times Book Review. He is the author or co-author of over 200 books, the columnist behind “The Daily Heller”, and the co-founder and co-chair emeritus of the MFA Design program at the School of Visual Arts in his native New York City. Among his many accolades, Heller was just inducted into the One Club Creative Hall of Fame earlier this month.
In 1982, Heller met graphic designer Louise Fili, and pretty immediately the two fell in love. Fili is a typography specialist, designing nearly 2,000 book jackets while working for Random House as the art director at Pantheon Books. She then launched her own eponymous graphic and digital design firm, Louise Fili Ltd, in 1989.
Meanwhile, Heller and Fili’s son, Nicolas Heller, is a prolific filmmaker and social media sensation under the moniker New York Nico, cultivating a platform that honors the uniquely flamboyant sights and characters of New York City. He’s publishing his first book this October, entitled New York Nico’s Guide to NYC, which depicts his top 100 New York places and businesses, and the people behind them. (This book is set to be our PRINT Book Club selection for November—stay tuned for dates.)
I recently had the treat of chatting directly with Steven and Nick about their memories of Heller-Fili family life during Nick’s adolescence in New York City, with additional insights from Louise via email. I was curious to learn about what lessons the design power couple imparted to Nick, how New York shaped his upbringing and the artist he’s become, and the energy with which their creative home was infused. Our conversation is transcribed below.
(Conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity).
First off, would you mind sharing your love story with me, Louise and Steven? How did you two meet?
LF: Steve was art director of the NY Times Book Review, and I was art director of Pantheon Books. He wrote me a fan letter in March of 1982. Two sentences. We got married one year later in October 1983. The letter is framed on my desk in the studio.
SH: The fan letter was about her book jackets. We’d met at one of the exhibits I curated, introduced by Ed Koren. Then I invited her to a book party I was given at the Plaza Hotel. Finally, Marshall Arisman arranged for us to meet at an American Illustration judging. That’s when everything clicked and we moved in shortly thereafter.
Where in New York City were you two living when raising Nick?
SH: Nick likes to call our neighborhood Union Square. We call it west of Fifth Avenue; we live a block away from Union Square, 16th Street. Nick was kind of the Mayor of 16th Street
LF: Starting at age three, Nick was known to the community as the Mayor of 16th Street. On his daily walk home from nursery school, he would pass through Union Square and check in at his regular haunts: Steak Frites, where, on seeing him, the manager would take out a tub of ice cream with Nick’s name scrawled on it. Next was Bill, the affable guard at Country Floors, who would tip his hat. At Lord of the Fleas, a vintage clothing store, they would turn around the standing mirror so Nick could see his reflection.
SH: Would you agree that you were the Mayor of 16th Street, Nick?
NH: I don’t really remember. I remember you telling me that I was. I would say “hi” to a couple of people on 16th Street, and because of that, you gave me that title. I don’t know if I really deserved it.
I remember Bill vividly for some strange reason—because I forget most of the people from that period of my life—but I remember him. He was the security guard for this tile store, I think it was, right? And I think it might still be there?
SH: No, it’s gone.
NH: I don’t know why a tile store needed a security guard, but for whatever reason he was always there, and he had this flashlight thing that would blink red and green colors, and he would always show it to me, and I was always captivated by it for some reason. That’s been a lasting memory for 30 years.
Louise and Steven, why was raising Nick in New York City important to you as parents?
SH: Well, I was raised half a mile away in Stuyvesant Town, and I wasn’t about to leave New York City. And Louise was ensconced. The building we lived in was this wonderful, old townhouse that had been a boarding house for actors and actresses long before we moved in. There was no alternative.
The best thing we could do for Nick was to send them to a good school that we wouldn’t have to worry too much about. So we sent him to Little Red, which was the first lesbian-run school in New York. Elisabeth Irwin, who founded it, was one of the progressives that hired blacklisted teachers during the McCarthy era.
How was going to Little Red for you, Nick?
NH: It was great. As you mentioned, it was very progressive. So progressive to the point that you could kind of get away with doing anything in the name of art. And that’s how I kind of got started in filmmaking. I wanted to make films that would scare my teachers, so I would discuss very unsuitable topics just to freak my teachers out. I wanted to keep pushing the boundaries and see how far I could take it.
That was in high school, but even in middle school, I remember in seventh and eighth grade, that’s when I started getting into film and writing scripts. I never finished any, I would just write scenes, and I would share them with my teachers. Even though the scenes were about very mature but immature topics, my teachers were very encouraging because they could tell that I was passionate about this art form. My parents were the same way. I think the stuff that I was making probably made you uneasy, but I think you kind of knew that I had a good head on my shoulders and it would lead to something more positive.
How did you first get into the film medium, Nick?
NH: My earliest memory of really getting into film was, I believe, in the seventh grade, and I had a knack for memorizing the casts of movies, even very obscure movies. So that was kind of a talent that I had, and I liked the idea that I was better than everyone else at one thing, which was just remembering actors in movies. So, I would challenge students in my class to name a movie and I would name the cast.
That was also around the time that Direct TV came out, where you could pull up a guide on your television and see what movies were playing and it would tell you the cast in each movie. So I would go on our TV and try to memorize the cast of these movies that I hadn’t even seen, and then that turned into writing scripts of my own. I would fantasize about movie ideas and cast them with real actors. By the time high school came around, I actually had the opportunity to start shooting my own stuff, and that’s what really set me on my path.
I think I was destined to get into some kind of art, just based on who my parents are.
SH: We also had a couple of video cameras, and there was one time when you were in grade school where it was “Turn off the TV Week,” and you made your own movie with your cockatiel.
NH: I think I was destined to get into some kind of art, just based on who my parents are, and maybe subconsciously, I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps so I decided to go another route.
Being raised by artists and surrounded by creativity your whole life, I don’t know how one wouldn’t be influenced by that. My parents are both journalists so that’s my background to an extent as well. At what point did you become aware of your parents being this creative power couple?
NH: I remember when I was a teenager, one of them mentioned that Molly Ringwald was a fan of my dad’s, and that was surprising to me; to think that this celebrity actress was a fan of my dad.
I always knew that they were prolific in their fields, but I don’t think I really realized or appreciated it until college, maybe even late into college. I think it was from people telling me that they had my parents’ books and that they looked up to them, and what have you. That’s really when I realized how important they were.
Louise and Steven, as artists, were there any salient lessons you remember imparting on Nick once it was clear you were raising a creative child?
SH: There wasn’t any prescription. There were no rules I wanted to instill. I was just interested in him following what he wanted to do, and as long as he could make it through high school without getting screwed up, and make it through college (which I never did), I was happy to see where this thing would take him.
All of a sudden Nick started doing music videos, and they were mostly rap videos. My strongest memory is Nick wanted to use our apartment for one of his rap videos, and I think we were going away that weekend, or at least going away for the day, and Nick suggested we didn’t come back until a certain time. When we did, there was a whole group of rappers sitting in the living room, and one of them said, “I hope we haven’t disturbed your apartment, Mr. and Mrs. Heller.” We later learned that they had been throwing spaghetti all over the place. But even though we may have had certain trepidations, we never enforced strong discipline.
NH: I can’t remember ever really being scolded by you guys because I think, generally, I was pretty well-behaved. The one instance that does come to mind, though, where Mom was very angry with me, was when I carved my name into her conference table at her studio.
So, Nick, obviously, you’re incredibly successful in your own right, and working in a different creative field than your parents, but I’m curious if you can point to any sensibilities or ideas from them that have influenced who you are as an artist?
NH: I think the biggest thing is my work ethic. Work is really important to me, reputation is really important to me. I never want to let a client down. I never want to let my crew down. If I’m doing a project that requires a crew, like a commercial or something, I always try to make it a really happy environment where everyone feels respected and has a good time. I like to think that I’m very on top of things, too. I’m positive that I got that from my parents. I think it just rubbed off on me in one way or another because, obviously they’re very hardworking and reliable and have a great reputation.
SH: Where did you get the guts to go up to the people that you go up to? When you’re making movies or videos and befriend them?
NH: That’s where we’re very different because I feel like you don’t really like people. Maybe when you were my age, it was a different story. So I don’t know who I got that from, maybe it was just wanting to be different from my folks.
Where would you say your knack for observing originated, Nick? You’re not only capturing these wonderful little vignettes and characters on camera, but you’re noticing them in the first place. How did you hone that eye?
NH: I think just growing up in New York and being surrounded by stuff. I don’t know where the curiosity came from, but it’s kind of just right in front of your eyes here. Have I always been like that, Dad?
SH: You were certainly always more curious than I was. Things kind of just happen naturally. Nick lived on 16th Street, and there were lots of people coming and going. Fifth Avenue became a mall, and Union Square was a place where characters kind of resided. When I was younger, it was called “needle park,” but then it got cleaned up so we would let Nick go to Union Square.
NH: I remember being very curious about the people that I would cross paths with, and when I became of age that’s when I started chatting them up.
SH: You became very industrious. He would put on talent shows, bringing some of these people together and they would form a traveling troop.
It’s interesting to hear you say you don’t think you’re very curious, Steven, when you’re so clearly one of the most curious people there is, constantly writing and diving into different corners of design, and endlessly learning and sharing. It’s a different kind of curiosity and manifestation of that curiosity than Nick’s, but it’s extreme and genuine curiosity all the same.
SH: Well, I appreciate that. I was just watching a film that was done during my show at SVA, and they interviewed somebody who said that my curiosity was “neurotic,” and that’s what it tends to be. It tends to be about producing stuff. I don’t know if Nick has the same production need or obsession.
NH: Yeah, of course I do.
SH: I just keep having to get stuff out and onto a piece of paper, no matter what it is.
NH: I mean, that’s what my Instagram is. That’s why as soon as I film something, I have to put it up immediately. And it’s not for any other reason than I’ve become impatient, and I just want to get more stuff into the world.
SH: Part of it is saying something to somebody, and part of it is expunging it. There’s the egotistical part of it, and there’s the sharing part of it, but they go hand-in-hand.
Louise and Steven, you must be immensely proud of the person and artist Nick has become. How has his success felt to you as his parents?
LF: We are especially proud of all that Nick has been able to achieve on his own. What he contributed to the city during the pandemic was singularly admirable.
SH: “Immensely proud” is a good way to describe it, ecstatic and overjoyed as well. I saw him make something from nothing. We could have helped him get his foot in the design field, but that’s not what he wanted. I never wanted help from my parents either and did whatever I did on my own.
Nick has shown himself to be not just creative, but a real human being, and that came through in COVID when he went out and did what he felt he had to do. It was more than prideful, it was a word that I can’t even pull out of the air. He’s gone on to defy the Millennial stereotype of living in your parents’ basement ten times over. We can share certain things; there are certain things that he teaches me.
I always wake up every morning and look at his feed to see where he’s been. He’s a very modest person, he isn’t always forthcoming with what’s going on, and that’s okay because I was like that as well. When I do see what he’s produced, I get all shaky inside.