Olivetti Valentine
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The Olivetti Valentine ( original spelling : olivetti valentine ) is a mechanical typewriter that was manufactured by the Italian company Olivetti from 1969 to 2000 . It is known for its unconventional design, which comes from the Italian designer Ettore Sottsass together with Perry A. King . It is considered a milestone in industrial design , which is why almost all important design collections have copies of it, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York .
The housing of the portable typewriter is made of the thermoplastic ABS and measures approximately 11.7 cm × 34.3 cm × 35.2 cm. The machine was available in red, white, green and blue.
The box is carried by the folding handle and placed upright on the floor like a briefcase. The machine can be pulled up out of the box after opening two locking clips on the handle. This construction means that the mere machine has a slightly higher and wider rear wall that carries the handle at the rear. While many other (unpacked) machines were carried horizontally with both hands and in front of the chest, the valentine could be carried by the handle (without or with a box) with one hand like a slim bag next to the leg. The disadvantage, however, is that the upright box is open at the top and can therefore collect dust or something can fall into the dark.
It was initially made in Italy , later in Spain and finally in Mexico .
reception
Numerous intellectuals, especially from the left spectrum, used an Olivetti Valentine. The product became a symbol of anti-culture (under the slogan: "for all places except for the office"). One owner of an Olivetti Valentine is the Braun designer Dieter Rams . Even David Bowie had this typewriter on which he wrote many lyrics by its own account. Bowie's machine sold for £ 45,000 at Sotheby's in November 2016 .
Sources and web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Carlo Torchio: Olivetti macchine per scrivere meccaniche . 2013, p. MP9 (Italian).
- ↑ Ettore Sottsass, Perry King. Valentine Portable Typewriter. 1968 | MoMA. Retrieved March 25, 2017 (English).
- ↑ Dieter Rams . In: The time . October 22, 2010, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed March 25, 2017]).
- ^ Sotheby's: David Bowie's Olivetti valentine. November 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2017 .