OLIVETTI The Founders Great Minds Design Architecture Social services Advertising and Corporate Image
To begin with Italian industrial revolution started at the beginning of 20 th century. The impulse to a more modern mechanical industry was given by Olivetti s: it produced typewriters Camillo Adriano Dino and Roberto Great Minds
Camillo Olivetti (Ivrea, 1868 Ivrea,1943) Camillo Olivetti graduated in engineering in Turin (1891), then studied English in London and electro -technology in California. Back home, he set up a company for the production of electrical measuring instruments. The company CGS was founded in 1896 (named after the units Centimetre, Gram, Second). In 1908 he founded the factory of typewriters - which still has his name - in Ivrea. The first model of typewriter, Olivetti M1, was entirely designed by him. The company had a rapid development: in the 20s it improved the production by setting up a smelter and the Olivetti machine shops He gave great impulsion to research and development. In the early 30s he reinforced the distribution abroad, and, in 1924, he was joined by his son Adriano.
Adriano Olivetti (Ivrea, 1901- Milan, 1960) Camillo Olivetti s son was an entrepreneur, an engineer and a politician, a man of great and special importance after the World War 2. In 1924 he got a degree in chemical engineering and, after a period spent in the USA, he came to Ivrea (1926) and started working with his father. He became manager in 1933 and president in 1938. He opposed the fascist regime and during the war, he took refuge in Switzerland. Back in Ivrea, he ran the company. In 1945 he published The political order of the Communities: a theoretical basis for an idea of the federal state which was based on the community. In 1948, in Turin, he founded the movement Comunità. He was mayor in Ivrea in 1956 and in 1958 he was elected as a representative of Comunità. On February 27, 1960 he died suddenly during a train journey from Milan to Lausanne. At the time of his death, the company founded by his father was on all major international markets, with approximately 36,000 employees, more than half abroad.
Dino Olivetti (1912 1976), the youngest of Camillo Olivetti s sons, studied at Politecnico in Turin and then joined the Italian army in Africa. In Boston he got a Phd in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1940 Dino moved to Brasil to run the family company in San Paolo. In the U.S. he worked for the American North Aviation in Kansas City and, after the war, he came back to Ivrea to join his brother Adriano as a technical manager. Back in the US he ran the newly founded Olivetti Corporation in America, New Canaan. In 1968 in Italy he founded the DODSPA (Dino Olivetti SpA) a leader company for electric components. Roberto Olivetti (1927-1985) was Adriano s first son. He first studied at Bocconi University and then at Harvard. With the technical collaboration of Eng. Mario Tchou, he started the first Italian laboratory of electronic researches in Pisa. Here, in 1955, Roberto Olivetti led the research group which planned and created the electronic calculators of Elea Class. Elea 9003 of 1959 was the first computer developed in Italy.
Renzo Zorzi (1921-2010) is an example of the intellectual manager that Olivetti promoted. He got a degree in Italian Literature from the University of Padova, and his life was totally devoted to publishing. In 1947 he met Adriano Olivetti at a party in Turin, and then got a managerial role in Olivetti (1965), as a publisher of the magazine Comunità and as a responsible of the industrial design and of the cultural initiatives He was able to spread new ideas both in the field of art and in the fields of design and architecture.
Natale Cappellaro (1902-1977 ), from Ivrea, after attending the elementary school and some technical evening courses, joined Olivetti as a regular worker in 1916 at the age of 14. Soon Camillo Olivetti understood his qualities and, from the late 1930s, he took part in projects concerning the first calculators: MC4 Summa, MC3 Simplisumma, followed by Elettrosumma 14 (1945), Multisumma 14 and Divisumma (1948). These products marked the great success and worldwide expansion of Olivetti in the 50s. From 1960 he was appointed manager of projects, and got the Laurea Honoris Causa for his inventive genius. He still represents the myth of the man who could build his career with his own hands inside a great company.
Pier Giorgio Perotto (1930-2002), after graduating at Turin Politecnico, joined Olivetti (1957) where he worked on the project for the first Italian computer (Calcolatore Elettronico Elea 9003) under the direction of Mario Tchou. In 1962 P.G. Perotto worked on the project of the first personal computer in the world : Programma 101 or la Perottina which was successfully presented in 1965 at the BEMA in New York. Thedesign was by Mario Bellini. In 1991 he was awarded the International Prize Leonardo da Vinci from the Museo delle Scienza e della Tecnica in Milan
Ettore Sottsass (1917 2007) got a degree in architecture at Politecnico in Turin in 1939. In 1959 Sottsass began working as a design consultant for Olivetti, planning office equipment, typewriters and furniture. Together with Mario Tchou, and Roberto Olivetti he won the prestigious 1959 Compasso d Oro with the Elea 9003, the first Italian calculator. Throughout the 1960s, he designed a lot of products for Olivetti, but the best known is the bright red plastic portable Valentine typewriter in 1969, "a brio among typewriters. Among his other creations for Olivetti are the typewriters Lettera 36, Tekne 3 and Praxis 48, the calculator Elea 9003 and the Personal computer M 24.
Giovanni Pintori (1912-1999) met Adriano Olivetti in 1936 and soon became responsible for Olivetti Advertising Campaigns. His name is strictly linked to famous posters, calendars and advertising pages. His collaboration with Olivetti lasted about 30 years. Egidio Bonfante (1922 2004) met Olivetti in1948 and his career started with the design for the new series of magazines Comunità directed by Adriano Olivetti. His most famous posters advertised Divisumma 18, Valentine and Lexicon.
Olivetti architecture is mainly based on a rational style. The most important buildings are in: North America Europe Ivrea South America
1966: Louis Isidore Kahn (1901 1974), architect, designed the factory of Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania (USA). This is an example of the many important Olivetti buildings in North America.
1957: in San Paolo (Brasil) Marco Zanuso (1916 2001) made the dome factory and the factory of Merlo in Argentina. The building has a particular structure with lots of domes.
1967: Egon Eiermann (1904 1970) starts the construction of some office palaces in Francoforte, Germany. 1973: the centre of Haslemere (UK) was made by Olivetti company as a managers meeting point. James Sterling (1926-1992) restructured an old English mansion.
In Italy there are a lot of Olivetti structures. Among the most important are Pozzuoli factory, by Luigi Cosenza (1905 1984) and Rho factory designed by Le Corbusier (1887 1965), but never realized. Pozzuoli factory, 1955, Luigi Cosenza.
Camillo Olivetti monument, Ivrea. Ivrea is the city where Olivetti company was born, therefore there are many important buildings.
the red brick building 1908: Camillo Olivetti turned his old project into a new, more modern one and on the roof of this red brick factory appeared the label Olivetti, the first national typewriter factory. At that time the town centre was quite far, beyond the river. In Turin, Fiat Company was born 10 years before and had 50 workers. C. Olivetti started his company with four boys.
factories The first red bricks building was enlarged by the architects Luigi Figini (1903-1984) and Gino Pollini (1903 1991) in the 1930's and then in the 1950s (Officine OMO). These two architects worked together for more than 50 years. They developed the structure of Olivetti factory, the Nursery, the Popular Houses (1939/40) and the Employee Buildings (1940/42) in Ivrea.
palazzo uffici (1960 1964) projected by Gian Antonio Bernasconi (1911 - ), Annibale Fiocchi (1915 - ), and Marcello Nizzoli (1887 1969) It is an example of the great architecture addressed to the offices of the main staff in a moment of large expansion of the Company
Officine H. Eduardo Vittoria (1923 2009) started a collaboration with Adriano Olivetti which lasted till the early 1970s. His famous projects are the Study Centre and the Offices in San Bernardo of Ivrea. He worked together with architect Marco Zanuso (1916 2001) for the buildings of Scarmagno, Marcianise and Crema
residential buildings Borgo Olivetti and Quartiere Castellamonte Case Fusaro, Pozzuoli
talponia A residential complex of buried flats with a porthole made by Roberto Gabetti (1925 2000) and Aimaro Oreglia d Isola (1928 - )in 1968. The unburied face of the flats.
la serra La serra by Iginio Cappai (1932 1999) and Pietro Mainardis (1935 - ) This building had mainly a residential role with a lot of rooms.
Project 100 was based on extra scholastic pedagogy. There are many memories and witnesses of people who spent beautiful moments in Olivett summer schools.this project is now shown as an example in a blog about pedagogical debates
Olivetti had a lot of services for children included nursery schools, colonies, after schools and sports activities. Camillo and Adriano Olivetti worked on their development for almost 30 years. Medical cures were supplied in children ambulatories by nurses and teachers interested in children s development from their first months. These building were created by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini
Colonies and campings were planned to permit the children from 6 to 12 years old to spend a month at the seaside or in the mountains. Pre-campings for children from 12 to 14 years old and pre-colonies for children between 6 months and 3 ages were then organised in the 1950s
Today the only summer centre still working is Villa Girelli. Situated on the hill of Montenavale in Ivrea, it has 5 pavillons in a building of 300 mq and a park of 40.000 mq. The centre includes a big lunch area and a clay laboratory.
INTRODUCTION LEXICON 80 LETTERA 22,PRAXIS 48, VALENTINE ELEA 9003,PROGRAMMA 101 DIVISUMMA 18 DIVISUMMA 28 TYPEWRITER,LAPTOP, CALCULATOR,OFFICE FURNITURE
Machines design for mechanical office. Camillo Olivetti, considered very important the appearance of the product. In 1992 he wrote: La macchina per scrivere non deve essere un gingillo da salotto, con ornamenti di gusto discutibile ma deve avere un aspetto elegante nello stesso tempo. The typewriter is not a sitting room gadget, but it must be smart and functional at the same time In the 1930s Design and Communication reached a highly important position in the society management with Camillo Olivetti s son, Adriano. The most important products of this period were the calculator MC4 Summa (1940), Divisumma 24, Tetractys (1956) and the typewriter Lexikon 80 (1948).
Olivetti design Dobbiamo far bene le cose e farlo sapere (we must do good things and let people know about them) With these words Adriano Olivetti taught that industry not only must search for the best in every activity but also spread its values. When in Italy there were not yet schools for designers, in Olivetti, designers were already at work. Designers worked together with mechanic engineers to draw forms which made easier the use and the user at ease.
Olivetti introduced the figure of the designer in the 1930s when this job did not exist in the other parts of Italy. Groups of writers, artists and graphics collaborated to the work of designers; Olivetti designers were included under the label: Direzione Relazioni Culturali (Cultural Relations Management) From La Sentinella del Canavese by Michele De Lucchi Creating a design does not mean carving objects, but giving them an economic and comunicative aim. [ ] This is the task Adriano Olivetti gave the design: concepire qualità e saperle esprimere (to conceive qualities and to know how to express them) A lot of designers who have become famous worked in Olivetti included Marcello Nizzoli (since 1938), Ettore Sottsass (since 1957), Mario Bellini (since 1960s).Their works are shown in a lot of museums all over the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Musée des Arts décoratifs (Paris).
Lexikon 80 (1948) was designed by Marcello Nizzoli (1887 1969) on a project by Giuseppe Beccio. Lexicon 80 represents a reference point in the international design for the revolutionary solutions highlighted by its technological innovations: the two pieces of the covering and the cover match perfectly with the soft lines, realized with the new process of die casting, so the body looks like a unique wrapper.
Mechanical portable typewriter by Marcello Nizzoli (1950) Lettera 22 was the pinnacle of 1950s typewriters, a true luxury item. It was a portable typewriter of the most up-to-date design and fine workmanship.
Praxis 48 This typewriter (1963), designed by Ettore Sottsass, signs a new trend. The geometric lines underline the technological value of this item..
Mechanical Portable Typewriter Ettore Sottsass 1969 Valentine is the red portable typewrite, the first example of a non-traditional, and informal office item.
The calculator age. The age of the electronic products starts with the Elea 9003 (1959) drawn by E. Sottsass: it is innovative both for its design and for the advantages it offered. Olivetti Electronic launched Programma 101, a little desk calculator drawn by Mario Bellini (1935 - )
1973: year of design innovation. Divisumma 18 (1973) marked a radical development. M. Bellini produced a technological product totally humanized, almost playful, that invited human touch. Divisumma 28, made of the same rubber membrane, it has an inclined body. Both of them are very rare nowadays
Personal computers Program 101 (1964), by P. Perotto M20 (1982) by Enrico Pesatori, and M24 (1984) by Luigi Mercurio, both designed by E. Sottsass
This poster was made by Teodoro Wolf Ferrari (1876-1945) for Camillo Olivetti in the 1912, as advertisement for the M1, the first Italian Typewriter. In this poster Dante Alighieri is the testimonial with the M1. In the 1920s Marcello Dudovich (1878 1962) made some posters with a girl and an Olivetti typewriter. (red and green versions). In the posters there is not the name of the typewriter because only the M20 existed
Olivetti used immediate messages addressed to people s feelings The messages related to the speed were : La Rapidissima or Velocissima. (The Fastest) The messages for the keyboard were: Dolcissima tastiera ; Agile come un volo di rondine ; Il tocco è leggerissimo. (The Sweetest Keyboard, Agile like the flight of a Swallow, The Softest Touch)
VALENTINE S POSTERS by Ettore Sottsass 1969
by Egidio Bonfante 1970 by Milton Glaser Reprinted in 1989
DIVISUMMA S POSTERS by Walter Ballmer by Giovanni Pintori by Egidio Bonfante 1973 1947 by Herbert Bayer 1953
by Marcello Nizzoli 1949 LEXIKON S POSTERS
LETTERA 22 S POSTERS by Raymond Savignac 1953 by Giovanni Pintori 1962 by Egidio Bonfante 1953
LETTERA 32 S POSTERS By Walter Ballmer 1968
Camillo Olivetti drew the first logo by himself (ICO: Ingegner Camillo Olivetti) in the 1910s, then substituted by a new, hand written one.
Xanti Schawinsky proposed this logo in the 1930s. olivetti began with a small letter, and was used for many years.
In 1949 Giovanni Pintori created this new poster called NUMERI (Numbers) In the centre is the new logo. It was used also in the 50 s
In 1952 Marcello Nizzoli created a new graphic logo: La GRECA, which appeared in every Olivetti s shop and in business documents. GRECA (Greek Key) means neverending
In 1970 W.Ballmer had the task to design a logo once again. He introduced some rules to be followed to design Olivetti logo. This writing is still used nowadays (small modifications in 2005)
the students