Photo: Davide Casali, Alessandro Gabbiadini, Marcello Mainardi, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
One example. Colors, sub-models, and production years vary; the machine you find may differ.
Olivetti Valentine
Designed by Ettore Sottsass with Perry A. King and Albert Leclerc in 1968, introduced in 1969. Internally a Lettera 32; externally a glossy red plastic statement that Sottsass himself thought of as the Bic Cristal of typewriters. Giovanni Giudici called it "a Lettera 32 disguised as a sixties girl." One of the most photographed industrial design objects of the 20th century.
What people say
designed in 1968 with Perry A. King and Albert Leclerc; Sottsass later called it the Bic Cristal of typewriters
— Ettore Sottsass
in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art
— MoMA
a Lettera 32 disguised as a sixties girl
— Giovanni Giudici
Used by
See & hear it for yourself
Manuals & repair
All sources
External, in their original form. The people who know these machines best — click through to read and watch.
Where to find one
Listings come and go. These show whatever Olivetti Valentine machines are on the marketplace right now.
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Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Olivetti
- Origin
- Italy
- Years
- 1969–1975
- Form
- Portable
- Mass
- 4 kg
- Shift
- segment