Davorin Savnik

Davorin Savnik (7 September 1929 – 14 April 2014) was an industrial designer and architect from Slovenia.

His work includes designing audiovisual and telecommunication devices, telephones, electro technical and electro-medical equipment, hand tools, household appliance and computer equipment. Occasionally he lectured at universities home and abroad. In 1966 he was awarded with Prešeren Fund Award. In 1979 he received the BIO and Stuttgart Design center recognition awards, later on the highest prize of the Japanese Ministry for Trade and Industry, as well as the gold medal from the trade fair in Brno. He was also awarded at the International Fair in Hannover.

The most recognizable devices from his collection of design works were the telephones. His most renowned work was the ETA 80 telephone from 1978, which soon became a part of numerous households and offices around Slovenia and worldwide. Telephones were produced by the Iskra company in Kranj. More than 5 million ETA phone devices were made in Kranj alone and it can still be found in many homes.

The telephone has become highly recognized abroad as well, and received many distinctions for its aesthetic form, including a Good Design Award. It has been adopted as part of the permanent exhibition of outstandingly designed modern products at the Museum of Modern Art in Munich, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and Ljubljana Architecture Museum in Ljubljana.

Savnik’s idea has been copied by numerous manufacturers around the world, in a total output of 300 million pieces. Articles and pictures portraying the telephone have been published by Japanese, American, British, Russian, Czech and Croatian professional journals and newspapers. He died in 2014 aged 85.