Facit Model: Globalism, Localism, Identity

The rise and fall of a famed Swedish technology company

In Sweden, the Facit brand is as well known as IBM or Olivetti. Based in Atvidaberg, the company produced mechanical calculators, typewriters and office furniture between 1922 and 1998. By the 1970s, the company had grown from a local family business into one of the world's leading manufacturers. The company-sponsored football team AFF was playing in the first division. But a few years later the Facit organization had disappeared--worn down by global capitalism.

The Facit Model: Globalism, Localism, Identity looks at this peculiar example of corporate modernism through the printed matter produced in Facit's in-house print shops, culled from FACIT's archives. Type specimens, manuals, advertising leaflets and product catalogs bear witness to a culture which feels increasingly distant, and yet helped to define many of the codes and forms familiar to us from today's world of work.