Radio. The crackle of the potentiometer, the broadcast creeping from Vienna to Munich, from Florence to Prague. The world’s news wrapped in a small box. The radio – perhaps its genre is not – but its designer-made devices are slowly fading into the obscurity of the last century. These are truly iconic pieces that once brought the life of distant cities into living rooms, and today they mainly serve as decorative objects.

An eternal piece among the classics: the Philips Olympia radio appears as a timeless classic in the work of István Regős, displayed in an exhibition held in late 2024 at the Hegyvidék Gallery in celebration of the artist’s 70th birthday. The visual artist paraphrased many iconic inventions and devices in his paintings, with the radio serving as a recurring motif in his works, sometimes painted, sometimes reimagining the device's components.

The radio was designed by Dezső Bozzay early in his career, in the year of the Berlin Olympics, 1936. Bozzay was one of the 20th century's most talented industrial designers and applied artists, achieving pioneering success in Hungary. His name is associated with numerous groundbreaking innovations, including the design of several radio and television sets for the Orion company and the development of a two-jointed tram for the Ganz-MÁVAG group.

Radio Set - Olympia W, Philips, Budapest, 1936

After graduating, Bozzay worked in the telecommunications industry, joining Philips, where he designed various radio models, including the Olympia W. The device was a rectangular (46x26 cm) piece with a lacquered walnut wood casing, its clean form interrupted by the Philips company logo on the speaker. The unique feature of the Olympia device was that the W model ran on alternating current, while the U model was operable on universal direct current. The two versions were priced between 175 and 192 pengős, making it affordable for civilian use. After successful years as a designer and following the nationalization of the factory, Bozzay remained at Philips, later becoming responsible for the company’s visual communication.