About Us.
A typewriter really is the ultimate writing tool. Or perhaps I was simply born in the wrong century.
I started using a typewriter in 2003, after being reared on digital media. I was attending SFAI for an MFA in painting when the first typewriter came to my studio apartment. It was a Smith Corona Silent from the 40’s. Soon after, an Olympia SM9 followed.
I almost immediately fell in love. I say almost, because at first I had that nagging sensation that I was taking another ludicrous detour in life, by willingly choosing the path of most resistance. Writing was hard enough already… why render it nearly impossible!? I was instantly spellbound by the letters hammering my thoughts onto the paper in the same millisecond that I tapped the key. But after a page or so; a page riddled with errors, my fingers were sore. After twenty pages, my forearms were sore. Essentially, I had to unlearn computer typing mechanics.
And while this love affair with manual typewriters blossomed quickly, it took me a few years to gravitate to the right machines, and to learn to type, really type, and use the rhythm of the keys as a creative tool. Once I found that I felt unstoppable. Anyway, in those rare moments when the stubborn muse didn’t reject my hand, beckoning her to dance. .
I have no doubt that the typewriter is the ultimate writing machine. The computer is the ultimate research machine. With its litany of available distractions, one could argue that the quality of writing has actually declined in the digital age, alongside the quality of human connection. I can’t tell you how often I’ve sent a typewritten letter to a swooning recipient; thrown in a pressed flower or an ink sketch.
I’m entrepreneurial by nature. I sold my first drawing when I was 7. I’ve written various books on these beloved machines, some of which appear on Amazon, and I operate a few other businesses, including Eden Compost Solutions and Flow Healing Arts.
Classic Typewriter is mainly a labor of love; a way to spread my passion for these addictive contraptions.
I’m also a revolutionary at heart, and I must confess, when I hear the clack, I feel the call. There is something quintessentially radical in using a typewriter. I don’t know exactly what it is, but returning to technologies designed to last a lifetime in the midst of a throwaway society constitutes a revolutionary act. Witnessing letters form on the page instantly after years of ethereal, digital acts is still breathtaking.