Olivetti, Una bella società
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This year Turin is the World Capital of Design, a title that the city is holding fairly decently but without much panache. No critical design, no interaction design, nothing really progressive nor challenging either. Still, there's a couple of interesting exhibitions going on throughout the city right now. The one i visited on Thursday might actually be the best show about design i've seen in a long time.
Olivetti, Una bella società --which could be translated as something that sums up the ideas of a fine company and a better society-- was curated by Enrico Morteo and Manolo De Giorgi to celebrate the centenary of Olivetti's foundation.
The Italian manufacturing company was founded by Camillo Olivetti in 1908 in tiny Ivrea to produce typewriters and later on, calculators, and computers. Right from the start he decided that Olivetti would become a synonym of innovation and experimentation. His son, Adriano, succeeded him and cast the figure of an enlightened boss who would decrease the hours of work, build a library to encourage his employees and workers to get more intellectual education, and increase salaries and fringe benefits. By 1957 Olivetti workers were the best paid in the metallurgical industry and they showed the highest productivity. The company's vision didn't stop at mechanics and electronics, it quickly attempted to encompass new social values, look for a rational approach to producing things, and search for new ways to contribute to the development of society as a whole.
The 22 rooms of the exhibition in Turin host 700 objects and memorabilia: typewriters from the early 20th century, calculators, telephones, and portable computers but also office furniture, old commercials from all over the world, documentaries, videos, photographs and at the end of the exhibit, a labyrinth of rooms guides you through the spirit and story of Olivetti from the letter A to Z.
If there's one thing i associate Olivetti with, it's Valentine, the mythical and so red portable typewriter designed by Ettore Sottsass , along with Perry King, and launched in 1969. If anyone could point me to a portable computer which looks as neat, fun and elegant as Valentine, they will receive my undying respect and unlimited thanks.
Olivetti produced many other iconic devices: the portable typewriter Lettera 22, designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1949, the Divisumma 24, the first print-out calculator able to perform the four basic arithmetic calculations, the exquisitely portable Divisumma 18 calculator encased in pop rubber skin and designed by Marco Bellini in 1973.
At the time, enlisting designers to work on devices was far from being as commonplace as it is today. Olivetti understood almost immediately the concept of 'brand image'. They not only hired talented designers to shape their products (Sottsass, De Lucchi, Nizzoli), they also employed renowned artists and graphic designers to make their posters, well-known directors to handle their audiovisual communication and commissioned top architects and designers to create their flagship stores throughout the world. Carlo Scarpa, for example, was responsible for Olivetti's showroom in St. Mark's Square in Venice, 1957.
Olivetti, Una bella società runs at the Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti through July 27, 2008.
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Trackback [Spanish]:
"La fundación Olivetti celebra su centenario con una exposición espectacular en Turín. Yo me he enterado por We make money not art, cuya reseña es mejor que el artículo original. Solo para nostálgicos y para los que empezamos tecleando con una Olivetti.[…]"
http://jorgeledo.net/2008/07/13-19-julio-2008/
That's a great review of a superb exhibition. I visited it a couple of weeks back and wrote a much poorer review on my blog.
I think they did a great job of the arrangement of the exhibition - what could have been some fairly boring parts were made much more engaging by some inventive laying out.
Hi Adrian,
thanks for the kind words. i actually do not think that your review is poorer than mine
Hola Jorge,
the link you give doesn't seem to work. feel free to send the correct one and i'll amend the link in your comment,
Dear Regine, I'm happy that you found this exhibition "one of the best show about design you've seen in a long time", but I can't agree with you when you are saying about Torino that "the city is holding fairly decently the title of World Design Capital but without much panache. No critical design, no interaction design, nothing really progressive nor challenging either".
Of course, as Press Officer of Torino 2008 WDC I'm directly involved, but you have to consider that an entire year is long, and we tried, with over 300 events, to cover all the 365 days of the year with activities dedicated to every kind of public, starting with interactive design laboratories in Piazza Castello for the New Year's Eve (over 30.000 participants) and in these days with the International Summer School (200 students coming from more than 40 Countries are working with designers on 6 different issues about design and sustainability). Talking about "progressive and challenging" things, I suggest to you to visit the exhibition Flexibility, curated by Guta Moura Guedes, that will be open until October 12 in the former prison "Le Nuove", with the works of Ross Lovegrove, Patricia Urquiola, Antenna design, Fernando Brizio, Emiliana, Matali Crasset... You should have visited also Torino Geodesign exhibition, held in May in Palafuksas: 48 communities of Torino worked with 48 international designer (such as James Irvine, Jasper Morrison, etc...) in projecting concrete solutions to specifical needs of this communities and prototyping the project with italian Companies....
Perhaps is not so easy to catch national and international attention for an entire year, but I invite you and all the people "sailing" your blog to come in Torino in autumn to see the rest of our programme (Dream, the exhibition about car prototypes from the '50 to today, Icograda Design Week, International Design Casa...). I think you could change idea!
Best regards,
Alessandro
Dear Alessandro,
thanks for your feedback but i can assure you that i would not have said that the programme was so un-challenging had i not visited several exhibitions (4? or 5?). olivetti was the only one i found exciting enough to blog about. so far the programme is well-mannered, elegant, a bit stiff and afraid of taking risk or being eccentric. in french we would say "c'est du design à la papa". of course, i don't expect the whole programme to reflect my own tastes but can't help but hope that turin would go a bit crazy once in a while. the info graphic projections on the floor at TO11 are brilliant; the flexibility show is very good indeed, but not exactly impressive. i'm sorry but it takes more than a few big names to make a challenging and thought-provoking event. i must admit that the ex-prison is so amazing that everything pales in comparison. i'm looking forward to see what the rest of the year will bring then
Dear Regine,
you're always so kind and precise in your description and personally i think your definition - "a title that the city is holding fairly decently but without much panache. No critical design, no interaction design, nothing really progressive nor challenging either"- is... perfect.
of course Alessandro Bertin as Press Officer of Torino 2008 WDC is trying to present it on a better light, but as "torinese" and curator i completely agree with you.
My impression about WDC is that it's all focused on some really big event and then it's a desert... as you said - "i'm sorry but it takes more than a few big names to make a challenging and thought-provoking event" -
the desert means also that for example as you may know this year Share Festival was inside the program of WDC, but obviously at this "interactive art and design" event, curated by Bruce Sterling, there was no one officially from WDC to attend it...
Alessandro,
I'm stunned for your answer to Regine. In 18 years of professional journalism, I've never seen such a thing happening. Would you have responded in the same way to a Corriere or Repubblica journalist?
Regine is always very attentive, well informed and never superficial. So I'm pretty sure of her judgement, and absolutely trust her. Actually, I do not "sail" WMMNA: I am subscribed to it, being one of the best blog around, and an european pride
So, Regine: thank you very much for your work and this terrific review. Really great. We had lost the event if you didn't do it
PS In the link you can find my italian blog but if you want here you can find some professional info about me: http://www.albertodottavi.it
Sorry to disturb, i just wanted to point out quickly to this incredible image for Olivetti’s Valentine type writer I had not seen before and came across by chance when entering a computer room this morning here in Bogotá. Found some more interesting posters here.
thanks everyone.
Luca,
i had no idea that no WDC officials judged interesting to attend Share. This is indeed very sad. Many artists have influenced designers today and in the past and vice-versa. But i just saw yesterday that c.steim has been inserted in the official programme so there's light!
Alberto,
grazie mille for your kind words and that Corriere question was in my mind all along, thanks for voicing it!