- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
Offline 
- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,370
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Well...I'll be darned. I was right about a Valentine typewriter being in the home.
Found this photo when the David Kelley home was for sale some years ago.
.
- Shamwari
- Novice Typer
Offline
- From: Scotland
- Registered: 06-5-2024
- Posts: 46
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Cool!
I guess you couldn't have a Sottsass designed house without a Valentine even though he apparently grew tired of the design calling it "too obvious, a bit like a girl wearing a very short skirt and too much make-up" as quoted in the Wikipedia article on the Valentine.
The same article has a cooment from the poet Giovanni Giudici that the Valentine was "a Lettera 32 disguised as a sixties girl."
- duna
- Novice Typer
Offline
- From: Venice, Italy
- Registered: 30-8-2020
- Posts: 30
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Truly beautiful architectural design, this house surely deserves a Praxis 48. The latter is an amazing design, and , I'm told, truly nice to use (never used one, despite having used many Olivetti electrics, mostly standards though). Surely it looks great, I hunted one locally in mint conditions for years, but no luck up to now. Sottsass design are always remarkable, the other designer for the Praxis 48 was Hans von Klier, who in the 1970s was made responsible for the whole Olivetti corporate design, and helped design other 60s 'Sottsass' creations, like the Tekne.
- OlivWriter
- Platen Punisher
Offline
- Registered: 23-2-2024
- Posts: 95
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
This Olivetti Praxis 48 is a very beautiful model 
...
How much did you buy it ?
- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
Offline
- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,370
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
$ 130 USD...
Here is a side-by-side of the Praxis 48 with my Linea 98.
The P-48 weighs only 23.0 lbs. while the L-98 weighs 30.8 lbs.
Spa-day on the P-48 is done and the cowlings back on. I have to go back and adjust the space-bar to the right a bit...as it is too close to the cowling on its left side. Ribbon cover will then be put back on.
It is very quiet (just the slightest motor hum) and fast and easy on the hands when typing. Touch-control under the key-board allows softer/firmer key-touch.
.
- •
Thread Starter- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
Offline
- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,370
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Found another interior photo of the David Kelly home...this time a den or office. Same chair, but no typewriter on the work surface.
So I dropped in a Praxis 48 to see how one might have looked.
.
- •
Thread Starter- robmck
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 31-1-2022
- Posts: 373
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Fits right in (color scheme, too).
How do you find those little key tops? That has always turned me off the Praxis 48. (Though, I've never used one in person).
- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
Offline
- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,370
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
Hi Rob,
If they were on a manual typewriter, I would not like them.
But for an electric with a very light touch, they are perfect for the size of my hands and fingers. I got used to hitting the key-tops " On Center " pretty quickly.
I did have to make the touch-control a bit more firm...as if I rested a finger-tip on a key, it would fire off. I have the touch-control set to its middle-ish setting on the dial.
.
- •
Thread Starter- Pete E.
- Typewriter Talk Elite
Offline
- From: Idaho - USA
- Registered: 23-6-2020
- Posts: 2,370
Re: Olivetti - Praxis 48....
All sorted and ready to go for another 20 years or more.
Belts were brand new so probably got serviced not too long ago.
I still have to polish out the plastic cowling around the key-board...will do that tomorrow. Bits of grease and black ink stains on it from my work.
.
- •
Thread Starter