Swissa Piccola
The Swissa Piccola was a popular post-war typewriter, a continuation of one of the earliest truly portable machines. (At the time, people understood the need for a small, lightweight typewriter that was, in a sense, like a netbook or tablet of the era.) Its predecessor was the Patria, invented by engineer Otto Haas and produced in Switzerland as of 1936. (Haas’ inspiration was another Swiss-made portable, the Hermes Featherweight.)
In 1944, the architect, graphic artist, and industrial designer Max Bill, who studied at the Bauhaus, was commissioned to redesign the Patria. What he produced would become a template for the modern portable typewriter when it launched in 1950: the Swissa Piccola. These were licenced to companies in other countries and went by a variety of different names. (In Canada, one was marketed as an Eaton’s brand typewriter.) One idiosyncracy: they were mostly gray. As Robert Messenger noted on his wonderful ozTypewriter site, “The Piccola brochure says, ‘Approved colour of machine [grey], not tiring to the eyes’”. That is a matter for debate.
I think we can agree, though, that it’s quite a nice looking machine, although another Swiss portable of the era is my personal favorite: the Hermes Rocket and even smaller Hermes Baby.