Suburban Chicago typewriter repair business makes what’s old seem new again

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (CBS) – Typewriters can be found in antique shops, collectors’ homes, and maybe on a street corner with a poet.

They may sound ancient to some, but they’ve been making a comeback. Taylor Swift even brought them back in her most recent music video. CBS 2 found a typewriter repair business that’s keeping at least one young man busy in west suburban Downers Grove.

Every clack seems to slide back time, but Lucas Dul works on these machines of the past – in the present.

“I really enjoy these ones in particular,” Dul said.

He cares about history.

“Yes, and all of the pieces of it,” he said. “Including all of these old machines.”

About 70 to 80 typewriters clutter the shelves of his workshop inside his parents’ home in Downers Grove. The 24-year-old has been tinkering with typewriters since he was 14. At 20, he started a business called Typewriter Chicago.

He’s finding a way to profit off the renewed popularity of typewriters.

“This will be some surface rust and things left over, but the goal is not to make the machine look brand new but just to get it working like new,” Dul said.

He makes it sound easy. He said a lot of the work is “intuitive, at least to me.” But there’s an artistry to the work, and everything else Dul does.

“I doodle a lot,” he said.”

If he’s not using a pen, then he’s using a camera. Of course, the camera is older than he is.

Typewriters are typical photo subjects. Photos of them fill his phone, like real machines fill his parents’ house.

“Business is growing, and you know, I gotta grow with it,” Dul said.

Growing the business means he’ll have to commute to work, even if it’s only a short walk. He just signed a lease to relocate and expand his business.

Dul is an artist who can make what’s old seem new again. It’s a keystroke of genius.

Dul also sells refurbished typewriters and hopes to open up shop in Downers Grove in early May.