“Olivetti Valentine”, (; backlinks):
It [the Olivetti Valentine Portable Typewriter] came with a slide-on case that ingeniously fastens to the back plate of the typewriter with rubber straps. Unfortunately, over time these would often dry out, crack, and break off. This example still has them intact, but given its age, it’s not a good idea to rely on them to carry it around!
The body is made largely of shiny ABS plastic, while the case has a heavy matte texture, and some key structural pieces, such as the ends of the platen, are of painted metal. The bright orange caps of the ribbon reels perk up the actual mechanism, something which in other typewriters is typically hidden from view…The large fold-out handle on the back of the machine (what becomes the top when carrying it in its case) overtly invites picking up the Valentine and taking it along for a joy ride, much as the handle on the first Mac signified the same intent. The case itself was custom-designed to match the esthetic, unlike most typewriter cases of the day, which were nondescript black or gray plastic, or perhaps semi-soft vinyl. This is another example of Sottsass’s thinking about the whole user experience (as we would call it today).
…The Valentine was conceived as competitor to the inexpensive units coming on to the market from Japan. Sottsass had some interesting ideas about how to simplify and lower the cost of the machine, such as not having lower case letters (EVERYTHING WOULD BE SHOUTING IN UPPER CASE!), removing the bell that went “ding” at the end of the line, and using an inexpensive plastic for the case. Olivetti rejected all these as too radical, and used the higher-quality ABS plastic for the case, which pushed the price up higher than Sottsass had wanted.
[F]or use in any place except in an office, so as not to remind anyone of the monotonous working hours, but rather to keep amateur poets company on quiet Sundays in the country or to provide a highly colored object on a table in a studio apartment. An anti-machine machine, built around the commonest mass-produced mechanism, the works inside any typewriter, it may also seem to be an unpretentious toy.
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