Marcello Nizzoli

Marcello Nizzoli was an Italian artist, architect, industrial and graphic designer. He was the chief designer for Olivetti for many years and was responsible notably for the iconic Lettera 22 portable typewriters in 1950. After graduating from the Accademia di Belle Arti of Parma (1913), he worked as a draughtsman in Milan until World War I. The influence of Futurism and, particularly, the work of Fortunato Depero were fundamentally important in his cultural formation. His success as a draughtsman was established at the Prima Esposizione Internazionale delle Arti Decorative in Monza (1923), but he continued to diversify, designing fashion accessories such as handbags and shawls and poster advertisements for famous names such as Campari and Martini. During the 15 years after World War I Nizzoli demonstrated his remarkable talent for handling the most diverse forms of the avant-garde movements, from Futurism to Cubism, from the Viennese Secession style to Novecento Italiano, adapting them to the taste of his cultivated middle-class clientele. Nizzoli had already designed mannequins for Baldessari’s early Rationalist Craja Café (1930) in Milan when he met Edoardo Persico (1931) who, with Giuseppe Pagano, had begun to transform the magazine Casabella into the main forum for architectural debate. Persico’s theoretical approach complemented Nizzoli’s more practical orientation, and some of the most significant artefacts of Italian Rationalism emerged from their collaboration. Read more from Wikipedia →