In every inch of its existence Venice’s history stands in contrast with commerce. The deep laneways are a wonder to wander with discoveries to be had around every corner. It is a city that grew in an era of non-existent town planning, and is all the more astonishing for it. Between the weathered walls, glass…
The flying time from Melbourne, Australia is brutal. I watched the sun rise as our plane took off at 6am, only to see it set 22 hours later as we commenced our descent into Leonardo Da Vinci – fiumicino Airport. On the way we stopped by Dubai for two hours, providing a stark contrast in…
In this jet-lagged episode I visit an exhibition in a gallery in Rome, Italy, where the art of Olivetti’s design, as well as the company’s past and future is examined. In the Filthy Labs segment, I revisit my 2012 blog on 3D printing a typewriter. As usual, my podcast is available on iTunes podcast: Or…
I’d escaped the circus for a day, and I felt I needed a visit to an antiques bazaar that I had yet to explore. So I downed my work ID and hopped into the car and headed over to Glen Waverly. It was a moderate summer day with clear skies and no hint of the…
Early in September I had an opportunity to visit a country I have always been quite fascinated by. While its colonial past seems relatively peaceful, Singapore became a major flashpoint during the Second World War that had huge implications for the region, including Australia. It is an island that shares a waterway with the south…
A little while ago a friend of mine by the name of John Munroe sent me this great little Olivetti 32 ‘Katakana’ typewriter. I’d been keeping an eye out for such a machine for a number of years now, but as you may expect – such typewriters are generally non existent in markets that are…
About an hour and a half out of Melbourne there’s a small township that is known by the name of Fryerstown. Today, it has a population of 350, which underplays the towns historical significance. In the late 1800’s Fryerstown had a population of 15,000, all of which had flocked to the area during the…
The little Toyota Echo that I was driving is nothing like the Nissan X-Trail that I used to make my way out into rural south-east Queensland in. It’d been years since I had driven a manual car, let alone one with absolutely no power steering. As I drove past the trucks and utes around the town…
The Invicta. It has the most beautiful segment ever made, and a sharp and sophisticated design in its branding that is almost iconic. This is a machine that has an art-deco flair that has only been surpassed by the better known Olivetti Studio 42. But none of that seemed to stop this machine coming dangerously close to losing its life.…
The Filthy Platen 