{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1530654"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1530654/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3209/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3209/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MW3209","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MW3208","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1530654/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1530654","accessionNumber":"W.3-2020","objectType":"One-piece telephone","titles":[{"title":"Ericofon DBJ 500","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"The Ericofon was launched by the L M Ericsson Company in 1954 as a convenient, all-in-one telephone.  \r\n\r\nLM Ericsson was first established in 1876 as a small workshop to repair telegraph instruments. Over the course of the late nineteenth century, Ericsson was responsible for major technological breakthroughs in telegraph equipment including the first handheld ‘butterstamp’ telephone and wall mounted telephones. \r\n\r\nThe phone’s compact design marked the first break from the traditional two-part telephone design which separated the base and dial from the handset. For the first time, the dial, switch, and microphone were all contained in the telephone’s base with a squared earpiece at the top.\r\n\r\nThe Ericofon’s distinctive curve was achieved using ABS, a new thermoplastic that had become available after the Second World War. This plastic had the additional benefits of being impact and scratch-resistant, lightweight, and colour-fast, allowing the Ericofon to be produced in eighteen different tones. This blue-grey model is one of the five colours originally produced for the European market. \r\n\r\nMultiple designers were involved in the design of the Ericofon. Its early prototypes (1941-1949) were overseen by designers Ralph Lysell, a pioneer of Swedish industrial design and Hugo Bloomberg, the head of the technical department at Ericsson. The Ericofon project was then passed on to Swedish designer Hans Gösta Thames from 1949 to 1954, who took from Lysell and Bloomberg’s earlier prototypes to develop a phone that would be ‘light and feel comfortable in the hand’.  \r\n\r\nWhen first sold in Europe, Australia, and America in 1956, the Ericofon was enormously successful and attracted both institutional and domestic buyers. It was marketed to offices as an efficient all-in-one substitute to traditional phones which took up more space. It was also the first telephone to be branded with a name (rather than an identification number) making it easily marketable to home consumers. Contemporary advertisements celebrated the way its various colour ways could be used in different areas of the home to match interior design schemes, incorporating images of women using the phone in bed or chatting in the study. In this way, the Ericofon represents the introduction of technology into the home. ","physicalDescription":"The design of the Ericofon consists of a desk-handset including a dial, switch, transmitter, and receiver. The desk-handset is connected to a power source through a wire. The handset’s exterior casing is made from mirror halves of moulded ABS plastic (a copolymer of styrene and acrylonitrile) in blue which have been glued together and sanded at the seam. The earpiece at the top features pronounced edges and is perforated with small holes. An arc-shaped neck with a forward slope connects the earpiece to the phone’s base. Where the neck and base meet, there is a small depression forming a thumb grip. When not in use, the handset stands on its base, protecting the dial and switch from dust, and there are perforations at the front of the base to indicate the location of the microphone. The chassis holding the dial and switch are recessed into the underside of the base. The red switch button is situated in the centre of the finger wheel and numbers are underneath the finger dial. The Ericsson logo, which was used by the company between 1942 and 1982, is visible to the right of the dial. \r\n\r\nA printed logo at the top of the dial face depicts a five-pointed star with radiating electric bolts, representing the state-owned company Televerket, which controlled telephone communication in Sweden at the time of the Ericofon’s production. There is also a rectangular cut-out at the base which could have been used as a cardholder for the owner’s telephone number. The phone’s black cord comes out of the base of the telephone and terminates in a pronged plug made for the Swedish market. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lysell, Ralph","id":"AUTH362100"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Gösta Thames, Hans","id":"AUTH362102"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Blomberg, Hugo","id":"AUTH362101"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"L. M. Ericsson Co.","id":"A13095"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"abs plastic","id":"AAT14418"},{"text":"aluminium alloy","id":"AAT10936"},{"text":"acrylic","id":"AAT14426"},{"text":"rubber","id":"AAT12941"}],"techniques":[{"text":"moulding","id":"x46876"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Moulded ABS plastic parts glued together and sanded at the seam.","categories":[{"text":"Electrical appliances","id":"THES49024"},{"text":"Telecommunication","id":"THES49028"},{"text":"Product design","id":"THES49025"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2021MW3209","2021MW3208"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"74","id":"THES49720"},"free":"","case":"6","shelf":"PLINTH","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"telephone","id":"AAT249768"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Sweden","id":"x29198"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1941-1954","earliest":"1941-01-01","latest":"1954-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1956-1958","earliest":"1956-01-01","latest":"1958-12-31"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given in memory of Staffan Börjesson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"123","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"cord and plug","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"phone","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"phone","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"11.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"phone","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"plug","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"plug","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"plug","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"A printed logo at the top of the dial face depicts a five-pointed star with radiating electric bolts","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The Televerket logo is printed at the top of the dial face. Televerket was the state-owned company which controlled telephone communication in Sweden at the time of the Ericofon’s production.  \r\n\r\nThe logo’s design consists of a five-pointed star with radiating electric bolts. It was originally designed during the nineteenth century when the agency was called the Royal Electric Telegraph agency. They are credited for pioneering mobile telephony in Sweden during the mid- twentieth century. Televerket maintained its telecommunications monopoly over the region until its corporatization in 1993, when it was renamed Telia.  "},{"content":"L M Ericsson logo","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Location to the right of the dial."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Ericofon DBJ500, designed by Ralph Lysell, Hugo Bloomberg and Hans Gosta Thames 1941-1954, manufactured by L M Ericsson Company, Sweden, 1956-1958 ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The first one-piece telephone\n\nThe development of a space-efficient one-piece telephone was 20 years in the making and could only be realised in the 1950s with the arrival of ABS plastic. Easier to mould than earlier plastics, ABS allowed for the Swedish company LM Ericsson to develop the Ericofon: a lightweight, one-piece stand-up phone with a rotary dial. Before this, telephones had always had a base and separate receiver.\n\nRotary-dial telephone \nEricofon, 1954 (manufactured about 1960)\nDesigned by Gösta Thames and Ralph Lysell \nManufactured by Ericsson, Sweden \nMoulded ABS plastic and electronic components \nGiven in memory of Staffan Börjesson \nMuseum no. W.3-2020\r\n\r\nThis label is part of the Housing and Living display of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021.","date":{"text":"2021","earliest":"2021-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["W.3-2020"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2020,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-10","recordCreationDate":"2020-02-13","availableToBook":false}}