VALENTINE

The gesture

In 1969, Olivetti asked Ettore Sottsass for

an object that would “keep company with

amateur poets on a quiet Sunday

in the country”.

Pop, brilliant red, entirely moulded in ABS —

unveiled on Valentine's Day.

The legacy

Its design broke with every convention

of its time and soon became a manifesto

of Italian industrial design.

Today it sits in the permanent collections

of MoMA in New York and the V&A in London.

43 keys · 4.05 kg · injection-moulded ABS shell · 1969