The renewed interest surrounding the history of the Olivetti company is well known. As Ivrea was recognized UNESCO industrial city of the 20th century in 2018, the theme of industrial culture and the uniqueness of the Olivetti model focus mainly on the figure and legacy of Adriano Olivetti.

The history of the company after his death remains an investigation for few, interested in deciphering the decline and mutation of one of the most avant-garde Italian companies on the international scene, and leaving various themes that accompany the company's expansion abroad unexplored.

One question above all emerges: what has become of the "Olivetti style" in the post-Adriano era? What happens in a company with a strong identity capable of renewing an entire industrial culture, from product design to work spaces, from corporate welfare to cultural dissemination, under the clear design of its leader, when he suddenly passes away?

Paradigma Olivetti

On 1960, February 27, Adriano Olivetti died. Founded by his father Camillo in 1908, the homonymous company, unexpectedly ended the second cycle of its life. Under the leadership of Adriano, this was characterized by the construction of a unique industrial and social project of brave expansion, which led to establish the industry itself as a world leader in the office machinery business. With the disappearance of its businessman-guide, a period of great uncertainty opens up: the company, financially fragile, undergoes a forced change of ownership and strategy.

Despite the changes induced by the new scenario, the seeds planted by Adriano sprout and the spirit of union between technique and beauty knows perhaps one of its most flourishing and multi-faceted season. In a market of worldwide competition, Olivetti will succeed in imposing itself once again in industrial product design as a paradigm of a method capable of producing, with different languages, the uniqueness of a same style.

Through the voices of designers, historians and managers, and thanks to extraordinary archive materials, the movie traces the paths of Olivetti’s industrial design from Adriano's death to the 90s, by going through the challenges of an era marked by rapid innovations: the transition from mechanical technology to electronics, up to its success in the competitive IT sector.

The project

The work was set up as a real research to investigate the years of activity of the Olivetti company from the death of Adriano up to the years of the De Benedetti era, when the Engineer took the helm of the Ivrea ship to attempt the crossing of the years 80 and establish itself in the personal computer sector.

In its initial phase the project was given the title “Olivetti – Chronicles of a gentle industry”. The starting intention was to try to tell the complex world and related events of Olivetti post-Adriano and its third cultural and design life, characterized by a hypertrophic and multifaceted development with the involvement of the best architects, designers and graphic designers.

Addressing this complexity is not without its effects. The significance of the themes, their depth and interrelation led to the decision to interrupt the creation of a single story, which would have inevitably led to partiality and superficiality of the contents. The documentary was then split into two feature films: “Olivetti Paradigm ” and “Olivetti Perspective”. They maintain the character of "chronicles", stories about specific events that intersect, are linked and manage to enter into the singularity of the macro theme, respectively of Design and Architecture, trying to decipher the vast world of personalities and symbols.Il documentario si è allora sdoppiato in due lungometraggi: “Paradigma Olivetti” e “Prospettiva Olivetti”. Essi mantengono il carattere di “cronache”, racconti su vicende specifiche che si intersecano, si concatenano e riescono a entrare nella singolarità del macro tema, rispettivamente del Design e dell’Architettura, provando a decifrarne il vasto mondo di personalità e di simboli.

Festival and screenings