DesignApplause

Heightening awareness of design-driven objects.

May 27, 2009

Olivetti manual typewriter.

I came across an olivetti typewriter for sale on ( surprising to me ) urban outfitters.

The typewriter and company brought back memories of ad campaigns running from the 50s – 70s. It’s where I discovered Italian design, Milton Glazer, Walter Balmer.

above: designed by giovanni pintori for the olivetti saldiermaschinen via ninonbooks

above: designed by giovanni pintori for the olivetti studio 44 via ninonbooks

above: designed by ettore sottsass for the olivetti valentine – 1969 ( note various artists commissioned to the valentine, branding 101 ) via ninonbooks

above: designed by milton glaser for the olivetti valentine – 1969 via ninonbooks

above: designed by Egidio Bonfante for the Olivetti Valentine – 1970 via ninonbooks

above: designed by yoshitaro isaka for the olivetti valentine – 1969 via ninonbooks

above: designed by paul rand for the olivetti lettera 22 – 1953 via ninonbooks

above: designed by Walter Ballmer for the Olivetti Lettera 32 – 1964 (christmas) via ninonbooks

above: 1957 Christmas print ad for Olivetti Typewriters. via ninonbooks

above: designed by roberto pieracini for the olivetti exhibition via ninonbooks

above: designed by walter ballmer for the olivetti exibition – 1961 via ninonbooks

Producer: Olivetti ( today ) ( Olivetti ( wikipedia )) many many more images via ninonbooks

above: adriano olivetti

Editor’s note: this post inspires more research… Some employees of Getronics Italia ( who bought Olivetti ) have asked Beppe Grillo to give visibility to their story. Goodbye computer industry.

above: sketch of the famous ‘valentina’ typewriter by ettore sottsass

More…
grain edit
vi.sualize.us
iso50 blog
100 years of olivetti in italy
the invisible agent
george lois ( i like lois but “agency vision” gets brain cramp )
advertising archives
973 third avenue
typewriter museum
olivetti portable typewriter gallery
olivetti, una bella società
camillo olivetti
ivrea and olivetti
associazione archivio storico olivetti

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8 comments ↓

#1 Quick scan of the net - typewriter « Beating the Seventies on 05.27.09 at 12:53 pm: [...] http://designapplause.com/2009/olivetti-manual-typewriter/5164/The typewriter and company brought back memories. The ad campaigns running from the 50s – 70s were a branding 101 case study and introduced me to Italian design, Milton Glaser, Walter Balmer, among others. … [...]
#2 Tomorrow Museum » Archive » Urban Outfitters and nostalgia tech on 05.28.09 at 12:28 am: [...] ‘Urban Outfitters and nostalgia tech’ dated 5/28/09 Urban Outfitters sells Diana+ cameras and now, Olivetti typewriters (via.) Their electronics section is full of replicas vintage payphones. Should we call this [...]
#3 Olivetti Valentine Typewriter Posters « < Keep Left on 05.28.09 at 3:27 am: [...] to Design Applause for the [...]
#4 amanda on 05.28.09 at 8:27 am: I love Glaser’s poster for Olivetti done in the style of the Met’s Gubbio Studiolo. It’s at once so Italian and so New York!
#5 adaptive path » blog » Adaptive Path » Signposts for the Week Ending May 29 on 05.29.09 at 7:54 pm: [...] When in doubt, be inspired. Olivetti. [...]
#6 Sean Reynolds on 05.30.09 at 3:35 am: Doing it with style is so much better!
#7 PRand on 06.08.09 at 10:25 am: More vintage typewriters. via designobserver
#8 One Night Stanzas » Blog Archive » Meet the typewriters… on 06.15.09 at 4:06 am: [...] Lettera 32 is quite an iconic typewriter, having featured in a very stylish and reasonably famous ad campaign. It doesn’t yet have a name (yes, they have names!), so if anyone has any ideas, leave [...]