The Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter - Lightweight and Compact

The hands of American writer, Gay Talese, typing on an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, New York City, 2015. (Photo by Steve Pyke/Getty Images)

Because of its ultra-compact size and ultra-lightweight design, Marcello Nizzoli’s 1950 Olivetti 22 typewriter became the standard for portable typewriters. Olivetti’s chief designer, Nizzoli, had been in charge of the MC45 Summa adding machine since 1936. Italy’s return to international industrial design was signalled by Nizzoli’s Lexicon 80 of 1948, which appeared in the ‘Italy at Work’ Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1950. At the 10th Triennale, Lettera 22 won the Compasso d’Oro. A new hard-edged design was introduced in the Diaspron in 1959 by Nizzoli as the replacement for the Lexicon 80. Ettore Sottsass would further develop this design in the 1964 Teckne 3.

A vintage 1950s Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter on display in a store in a Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Pearce, C. (1991). Twentieth Century Design Classics.

Design History – Amazon

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