The electronics maker Iskra from Savnik's birthplace of Kranj produced over five million ETA phones.

When it hit the shops, the phone was admired as incredibly beautiful.

But many could not afford it because it was expensive, so it soon became a status symbol.

The phone has bagged many awards at home and abroad, and its copies are kept by museums around the world, including the MoMA in New York.

"The entire world wanted to have such a telephone, so its copies were made in many countries, some even the same as the original," head of the Association Jurij Dobrila wrote in an article for the newspaper Delo.

Designer and architect Savnik was born in 1929.

He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Surveying in Ljubljana and continued his studies in the Czech Republic, the UK, the US and Italy.

He also designed other audiovisual and telecommunications devices, including computers.

In 1966 he received the Prešeren Fund Award, one of the top recognitions in arts and culture in Slovenia.