Sony KV-1310

On 15 April 1968, Sony held a press conference in Tokyo to announce a new type of television. The research team had just finished hand-building ten prototypes. They were shocked to hear Sony's co-founder Masaru Ibuka promise full production in six months. By October, the KV-1310 was in stores. It would change the television industry forever.

The Trinitron was Sony's answer to a problem that had plagued colour television since its invention: the shadow mask. Conventional colour tubes used a metal plate with hundreds of thousands of tiny holes to direct electron beams to the correct phosphor dots. It worked, but it blocked most of the electrons, producing dim pictures. Sony's engineers developed the aperture grille - a screen of fine vertical wires that let far more electrons through, creating images that were noticeably brighter and sharper than anything else on the market.

The name combined "trinity" (for the three colours united in a single electron gun) with "tron" from electron tube. The technology was so significant that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Sony a technical Emmy in 1973 - the first ever given to a consumer electronics company. Over the following four decades, Sony would sell 280 million Trinitrons worldwide. The KV-1310 now sits in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, recognised as one of the foundational products that established Japan as a world-class source of advanced electronics.

Gizmo is a collection of design-led art prints built around the machines that shaped how we made music, wrote code, played and connected with the world. Synthesisers and drum machines. Cameras and home computers. Calculators and handheld devices that once felt like the future.

Each print is a carefully constructed illustration that isolates what made an object memorable - its proportions, controls, typography, surfaces, and small acts of engineering intelligence. Not retro sentimentality, but honest observation: what made these machines distinctive, how they looked when they were new, and why their forms still resonate.

Adapted from and inspired by Simon Tyler's forthcoming book Gizmo: Retro-Tech We Loved and Lost, published by Laurence King in May 2026.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 70 × 50 cm · 28 × 20 in

XLarge · 100 × 70 cm · 40 × 28 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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