Filofax

Filofax UK

Type	Personal organisers
Founded	1921
Headquarters	West Sussex
Parent	Letts Filofax Group Ltd
Website	filofax.co.uk

Filofax is a company based in the UK that produces a range of well known personal organizer wallets. The organizers are traditionally leather bound and have a six-ring loose-leaf binder system. The design originated at Lefax, a United States company based in Philadelphia who exported products into the UK. The company also markets a range of personal leather goods and luggage under the "Filofax" brand.

These organisers are available in over fifteen countries in the following sizes: A4, A5, Slimline, Personal, Pocket, Mini, Compact and Pocket Slimline.

The name originates from an abbreviation of the phrase "file of facts". This name for the product was first coined when the UK company was founded in 1921. The popularity of the Filofax personal organiser grew enormously during the early 1980s due to its association with Yuppie Culture, where it was regarded as a "must-have" accessory, in the days before electronic organisers.

The company was known as Norman & Hill until the mid-1980s when it renamed itself, calling itself after its most popular product. For much of its life it was based in South Woodford, East London. In the early 1980s it moved to Barkingside, Essex. In the early 1990s it moved its offices back to London and subcontracted its warehouse operation to Crick in Northamptonshire.

Famous devotees of the Filofax products include Lord Lichfield, Len Deighton and Diane Keaton who even had a product named after her, the DK Coin Holder.

Filofax is part of the UK-based Letts Group. In 2006, Phoenix Equity Partners led a secondary buy out of the business. The deal provided an exit for private equity firm Dunedin Capital Partners.

Chris Heron

Chris Heron designed a range of accessories to fit Filofax which were sold all over the world for many years. One of these calculators won a design award at The Museum of Modern Art in New York for 20 century design in 1995. He has been involved in a number of multinational businesses in business development and marketing roles, employed and as a consultant.

Heron is currently a Director of Sujiivana Design Limited and The Profit Partnership and is consulting on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships on behalf of Ashcroft International and Business development at the University of East London.

Other meanings

Filofax is also the UK name of the 1990 James Belushi comedy film Taking Care of Business, which is based around a Filofax personal organiser (and thus one's entire identity) being stolen.

See also

• Electronic organizer
• Personal digital assistant (PDA)
• Personal organizer
• Personal Information Manager (PIM)