Italy’s original typewriter wouldn’t exactly have been the best fit for the cramped shared co-working spaces and unconventional remote-work setups of today. Manufactured in 1911 by workers at the Olivetti typewriter factory in Ivrea, near Turin, the cumbersome Olivetti M1 was black, crafted from cast iron and weighed nearly 38 pounds (17 kilograms). It featured 42 keys arranged in four rows, eight tabulator keys and one space bar.

It was a far cry from the lightweight Lettera 22, which entered production in 1950 and today remains an icon of Italian style and function. Designed by Marcello Nizzoli, the Lettera 22 measured 8.3 x 29.8 x 32.4 cm, weighed just under nine pounds (four kilograms) and was available in various colors.