Intention – Meets – Action

Three Hundred Years Typewriter

In 1714 Queen Anne of England approved the patent of an early typewriter design to inventor Henry Mill. The typewriter was a breakthrough three hundred years ago, followed by the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer…

But while computers are increasingly products of our disposable consumer culture – assumed and built to be upgraded often – typewriters were built to last.

It was a physical interpretation of intention-meets-action, thought-meets-paper, and many users maintained an ongoing relationship with their typewriters for years. Today, of course, the machines have gone the way of vinyl records, romanticized analog nostalgia, a sometimes-useful kitschy artifact with which to wax nostalgic. Brilliant in its simplicity, the typewriter was itself an inspiration to many, an open portal through which to channel inspiration.