Monday, October 29, 2012

Olivetti Everywhere

No doubt you have seen notagain's fantastic British-made Olivetti M44. Someone described it as looking like a coating of marzipan had been draped over the frame. I couldn't agree more. If you look at an Olivetti you can see the hours that went into desginging the product. They were the Apple of their day.

My mind then turned to my own Olivetti.


The operation is still plagued by the clicking pawls and when I have more than a few moments, I'll give them a closer look.

I tried to find some more information about this typewriter, the internet is silent. What I can find seems to repeat the same information over and over; it's electric and it came with an optional carbon ribbon attachment. I like the Italian name for a carbon ribbon; Carbongrafica.

There are a few advertisments from the era that give a sense to the size and heft of this typewriter.




The cantilevered keyboard that you can see on the front of the Lexicon 80E is replicated in the Praxis.

Olivetti's design roots really run deep.