Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon (1934-2005) worked for several years with the Italian design company Olivetti. This collaboration is emblematic of the long-standing relationship between Olivetti and the art world.

As early as 1912, Camillo Olivetti commissioned the painter Teodoro Wolf Ferrari to create the emblematic poster for the first Olivetti typewriter, the M1. But it was not until the leadership of his son Adriano (1938 – 1960) that Olivetti was transformed into a modern company. Olivetti’s Ivrea headquarters became a laboratory for innovative interaction between business and society. This model is still considered a model today for its ability to integrate culture, technological research, design, architecture, beauty and sustainability. Adriano Olivetti opened up the company to intellectuals, artists, sociologists and philosophers.

Thanks to this vision, Giorgio Soavi, Adriano’s close cultural collaborator, invited Folon to become part of the Olivetti world in the 1960s. Thirty years of collaboration between the Belgian artist, Jean-Michel Folon, who drew the destiny of the human being, and the company, Olivetti, for which he was responsible, for a time, for the visual identity and graphic design.

Their long friendship and Olivetti’s artistic legacy will be presented to the public in this talk, which takes a fresh look at the Italian company, a pioneer in the creation of typewriters and calculators, and Jean-Michel Folon, a singular Belgian artist of many talents.

 

Talk as part of the Olivetti · Folon exhibition

 

Welcome

Arnaud Bozzini, Design Museum Brussels

S.E. Federica Favi, Ambassadeur d’Italie en Belgique

 

Moderator

Allegra Iafrate, Istituto Italiano di Cultura – Bruxelles

 

Contributions

Stéphanie Angelroth, Fondation Folon

Cinthia Bianconi, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti

Paola Mantovani, Museo Civico Garda, Ivrea

Marcella Turchetti, Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti

 

In collaboration and with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura de Bruxelles, the Fondation Folon, the Fondazione Adriano Olivetti and the Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti.

 

Practical information

Where: Design Museum Brussels

When: 24.04.2024 at 7pm

Duration: 1h

The Olivetti – Folon exhibition will be open after the talk
The conference is followed by a reception
Langue : FR

Price: Free

Info: [email protected]