POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Olivetti desk top calculator designed by Mario Bellini

Object No. 2012/92/1

The Olivetti Logos 43PD was designed by Mario Bellini. Mario Bellini's design method seldom made use of drawing. Bellini preferred to experiment and develop models through a dialog which refined how a user might experience the object. This approach nurtured a focus on the tactile and sculptural qualities that might be realised and resulted in models that were then drawn up by technical drafting personnel. Bellini also considered a users emotional response to a product, an attitude that other great 20th century product designers understood and employed (Braun's Dieter Rams and Apple's Sir Jonathan Ive among them). Bellini's work for Olivetti from the 1970s had an enormous impact on information technology product design in the following decade. The product designs of Olivetti through the 1970s were what Steve Jobs aspired from Apple design - "Steve not only wanted our design to be the best in the computer industry, he also wanted Apple to be in the 1980s what Olivetti had been in the 1970s - an undisputed leader in industrial design." One of the most influential aspects of Bellini's philosophy, manifested in his methods and resulting designs, was the desire to suppress the technical dimension of these information products - although they are not toys they are playful and inviting. This playfulness can be observed in Ive's design work for Apple - in particular the original iMacs and iPod designs. Campbell Bickerstaff 2012 P. Kunkel quoting Lisa's co-designer Ken Campbell in "Apple Design" p28, 1997