Olivetti

An early 1970s design by Italian master Ettore Sottsass, the Synthesis line of office organizing pieces was produced by Olivetti, the famed typewriter and product company from Italy....

The Divisumma 18 is a portable electronic calculator made by Olivetti in 1973 through which the company entered the portable electronics market. Thanks to the design of Mario Bellin...

Famous and Iconic Portable Typewriter Mod. Valentine designed by Ettore Sottsass and Peter King, for the company Olivetti Italia in 1960, the typewriter is in very good condition wit...

Desk Mod. "Arco" designed by Studio BBPR for Olivetti Sintesis in 1963. The desk has an iron frame and base on one side and has a case containing 3 drawers and the original metal was...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, vinyl, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hi...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, plastic, vinyl, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hired BBPR to design their New York showroom on Fifth Avenue and to create their first series of office furniture, called Spazio (1959/60). This line included chairs, shelving, cabinet systems, and desks, just like the one shown here. It won the Compasso d'Oro Award in 1962. The cabinet contains compartments with drawers secured on both sides. The top is furnished with dark brown vinyl which adds a sturdy touch the overall industrial appearance. Studio B.B.P.R. was an Italian architectural partnership founded in Milan in 1932 by Gianluigi Banfi (1910-1945), Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1909-2004), Enrico Peressutti (1908-1976) and Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909-1969) who had studied at the Politecnico di Milano. B.B.P.R. was thus an acronym formed from the first letters of their family names. The architects found each other in their opposition to fascism in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s during Mussolini's autocratic regime. The architects therefore believed in developing a style that would have no references to contemporary politics. During the Second World War, they all joined the resistance. However, Rogers, a Jew, fled to Switzerland and both Belgiojoso and Banfi were deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where Banfi died in 1945. Despite the immense loss of Banfi, their architectural practice continued in the same name as before after...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' desk with drawers, steel, vinyl, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, h...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' side table or cabinet, coated steel, vinyl, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manu...