Olivetti Valentine in the context of "Zeitgeist"

A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectively against the paper with a type element. Thereby, the machine produces a legible written document composed of ink and paper. By the end of the 19th century, a person who used such a device was also referred to as a typewriter.

The first commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874, but did not become common in offices in the United States until after the mid-1880s. The typewriter quickly became an indispensable tool for practically all writing other than personal handwritten correspondence. It was widely used by professional writers, in offices, in business correspondence in private homes, and by students preparing written assignments.

Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned by TIM S.p.A. since 2003.

The company is known for innovative product design, ranging from the 1950s Lettera 22 portable typewriter, to some of the first commercial programmable desktop calculators, such as the 1964 Programma 101, as well as the pop-art inspired Valentine typewriter of 1969. Between 1954 and 2001, Italy's Association of Industrial Design (ADI) awarded 16 Compasso d'Oro prizes to Olivetti products and designs – more than any other company or designer. At one point in the 1980s, Olivetti was the world's third largest personal computer manufacturer and remained the largest such European manufacturer during the 1990s.