So here’s the OLIVETTI Lettera 32, designed in 1963 by Marcello Nizzoli as an up date to his classic Lettera 22.
–and here’s a 2015 FUJI Declaration urban fixie/single speed bike.
… Vereee Interesssting…. Yes we do sell that Fuji model at Trophy Bikes PHL. Thinking of bringing in an L32 to show next to it.
Filed under Olivetti Lettera 22, Olivetti Lettera 32, Uncategorized
WHYY/Newsworks was nice enough to send a photog/reporter to cover last Saturdays clack-a-thon in the park. Have to laugh that the first photo is of me obviously chiding a young person: “Errrmph! Please type with just two fingers to avoid key jams–it’s like you’ve never used a manual typewriter before, really!”
Here’s the link to the Newsworks story.
And here are a few pics:
Young people encounter vintage typing machines…
Bryan Kruk always brings some lovely machines; here’s a pair of Olivetti ICOs — one in matte black and one in a glossy piano black. Bellissimo, Mr. K!
Ah, such a crisp design could only foster concision!
Let’s have a closer look at that OLIVETTI ICO, shall we? What’s really astonishing is that this machine types as beautifully as it looks! Thank you, men and women of Olivetti, S.A.
OK, Chris Wink, one of the co-founders of Technically Philly (and featured in an earlier post here) , invited us to set up a Mini-Type-IN at the opening bash of Philly Tech Week. We trundled an Olivetti Lettera 22, an Olympia SM9, and several hundred sheets of bond paper into Dilworth Plaza next to City Hall. Surrounded by scores of tables packed with the latest circuitry, we were prepared to be mocked, or worse, ignored, by tech-centric millennials. Au Contraire, Claire!
We wore out our voicebox explaining the two machines; there was a line of thrilled first-time-typists (and a few nostalgists as well) waiting to get a clack at our machines from the opening bleep till closing (nearly 30 minutes over the limit). Parents boasted to their disbelieving kids, “I used to write actual homework assignments on one of those.” Satisfied neo-typists dashed off clutching the “hard copy” they’d stamped out with their force of their own little digits. We hope to see some of these fresh young faces at the Type-IN on May 16th in Manayunk! Thanks, Philly Tech Week, for letting some classic QWERTY operators hang out with the chipsters!
Filed under Analog Events, manual typewriter, Olivetti Lettera 22, Olympia SM9
When you schedule a Type-IN and it turns out to be set right next to a big Pumpkin Fest for kids, you toss the program out the window and just keep loading paper into those machines and unsticking the occasional rugby scrum of type bars. These Tweens dug typing, and we went way over schedule. Michael Ardito of Hometown Business Machines helped with crowd control, brought a stack of his typewriters and gave out a lot of cards. He also answered some typewriter history and technology questions from the kids. Numerous parents had whispered Xmas present conversations, about which we can say no more, nudge, nudge, wink-wink!
This young man comes from a typewriter-equipped home; he set to and immediately began a chapter story.
This is about the fifth set of typers we had on the machines–and we had a blast. Thanks to one and all.
Here’s a group pic of tomorrow’s typists!
Can’t wait to try Mr. J’s Words in Flight method of airmail. BUT for the nonce, will stick with another medium of transport–the river near my home.
Tossing in the missive here–yes, it’s not completed yet-figure that if Typosphereans could read the whole thing online, they might not bother reaching out to grab this half-sized bottle–still containing a few drops of good Ouzo! (from Plomari ) And– ha-on the company’s website–their contact page shows paper rolled up in a bottle–bit of authorization for this move.
Cheers,
-/ mcget- phillytyper
phillytyper 