Downers Grove, Illinois (CBS) – Typewriters can be found in antique shops, collectors’ homes, or even on street corners with poets.
It may sound old to some, but it's making a comeback these days. Taylor Swift also brought them back in her latest music video. CBS 2 discovered a typewriter repair business in the western suburbs of Downers Grove that is keeping at least one young woman busy.
With each click, it seems like we're going back in time, and Lucas Dal is still working with these machines from the past.
“I really enjoy these pieces in particular,” Dal said.
He values ​​history.
“Yes, and every part of it,” he said. “That includes all of these older machines.”
About 70 to 80 typewriters are cluttered on shelves in his workshop at his parents' home in Downers Grove. The 24-year-old has been tinkering with typewriters since he was 14 and started a business called Typewriter His Chicago at age 20.
He's trying to find a way to profit from the typewriter's resurgence.
“This will be surface rust and residue, but the goal is not to make the machine look new, just to operate like new,” Dall said.
He says it so easily. He said much of his work is “intuitive, at least to me.” But there is artistry in the work, and in everything else Daru does.
“I do a lot of doodling,” he said.
If he's not using a pen, he's using a camera. Of course, the camera is older than him.
Typewriters are classic photographic subjects. His cell phone is filled with photos of them, just as real machines fill his parents' home.
“Business is growing, and I have to grow with it,” Dal said.
Growing your business means having to commute, even if it's only a short walk away. He has just signed a lease to relocate and expand his business.
Dal is an artist who can make old things seem new again. He's a genius keystroker.
Dal also sells refurbished typewriters and hopes to open a store in Downers Grove in early May.