ABOUT
Hello Everyone, I suppose I’ll start by introducing myself.
My name is Lucas Dul, I’m that guy that fixes typewriters. I’ve often been told that typewriter servicing is an art, and I find that to be an interesting way of looking at things as I have been known to appear artistic. I started this website as www.lucasdul.com (vain, I know right?) a few years back to showcase my photography, as well as the wide variety of other things I do ranging from drawing to stained glass I am exactly the type of person who can’t pick one thing and stick with it. Don’t worry, your typewriter will get finished. In the years following, the typewriter business kicked off, and I began working towards opening a physical location as that is the typewriter dream. The website is now home to a more business focused experience, but I’ll be keeping some of the more fun projects on board like the short story contest. By now I have now been repairing typewriters for ten years, and in mid-2024, I opened a brick-and-mortar typewriter shop!
I got my first typewriter at 14, it was a Royal 10. Back then, I knew absolutely nothing about typewriters. I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two by now. The typewriter fit neatly into the intersection of writing and mechanical objects, two things I’ve always loved, and from there it went from something niche and cool, to a problem. You can’t have just one potato chip, you can’t just give a mouse a cookie… Since then I have had my hands on countless machines from all over the world, going as far back as the 1880s. If it writes by typing, I’ll do my best to take care of it!
Meet the Team
Me: I do stuff.
Ruby Ribbons: The 8-armed hard-working manager.
Frank: The Temporary Seasonal Employee
The Deeper Details Nobody Asked For:
On a more personal note, people often ask me what got me into typewriters. Honestly, I’ve always had a passion for antique equipment. It was something I could look at and see working, and the intricate mechanisms endlessly fascinated me. The typewriter combines that interest with another passion, the written word. For as long as I can remember, I always loved books. They were my escape, and I would much prefer reading to almost any other activity. It’s hard to say what my parents spent more on: batteries I took to use for flashlights, or the books themselves. I found my very first typewriter in an antique store, it was a Royal 10, my mom purchased it for me as a Christmas gift, and thus all of this was born. I’ve met a lot of incredible people from all over the world, I’ve handled machines I never thought I’d get to see in person (yet alone type on), and I’ve done my best to help contribute to the ever growing community of analog writers: the Typosphere.
My favorite part of the job is the typing. I am a person who appreciates tactile feedback. I love buttons and dials and switches, and I absolutely love the feel of typing. I don’t personally own a large amount of machines (though some would consider more than one a lot), instead I curate only the ones I really enjoy using. It seems I only become more picky as time goes on. I think I have about 6 right now.
The other main question I get is in regards to my logo. As I mentioned previously, I love art! Even digital art, which my best friend has warmed me up to lately. I drew my logo in the “traditional” manner: with a pen and a scrap sheet of paper. I could pretend that it was my intent all along to relate cephalopods and typewriters through ink, but in reality I’m just a big nerd who loves the ocean. My favorite books as a kid had everything to do with the sea and the creatures that inhabited it.
Photo Credit: Kevin Richard
I have relocated most of my webpages that relate to photography as well, so those of you who were frequent visitors may have noticed something missing. I love photography, and I love film. Film gives the artist amazing hands-on control over the final image, and I’ve come to enjoy the process very much! My basement plays host to a small darkroom where I occasionally make black and white prints. Currently, I am rocking the Nikon F3 and the Hasselblad 500cm, the latter of the two I have recently been using to photograph many of my typewriters.
My background in art is also a bit extensive, but the variety of disciplines have lent themselves well to working with old machines. Metal smithing and casting has aided in the fabrication of typewriter parts, and the time I spent learning as well as teaching stained glass has aided in the skills required to fabricated glass components to typewriters as well (keytops, windows, etc).
So that’s me, I love fish, typewriters, film, and art. I also like music (reel to reel anyone? I am very obsessed with Nagras), and fountain pens... Basically I’ll find myself dabbling at literally anything that interests me. I don’t really know where I was going with all this to be honest. Why are you still scrolling?
