As I browsed through images of typewriters on the internet, I became aware of a trend in typewriter autopsying that gave new life to the sum of the machine’s parts. Typewriter keys are turned into fashion accessories: bracelets, earrings, necklaces are all available to make or buy. I wonder if anyone has typewriter buttons? Do people make typewriter-key jewellery as mementoes of their much-loved, but now dead, machines? If this is the case, our nostalgia for obsolete technologies has acquired a distinctly Victorian taste. Is it akin to keeping a lock of the departed’s hair around one’s neck? We must surely mourn the hundreds of typewriters whose ‘shift’ keys appear in the image above, like teeth scattered in an unmarked grave.
The image ‘Shift Keys’ was taken by Amy K. Buthod, of the University of Oklahoma, at Freemont flea market in Seattle. The Autopsies Group would like to thank Amy for the use of her image (both on our website and business cards).
Rebecca Harrison
The image ‘Shift Keys’ was taken by Amy K. Buthod, of the University of Oklahoma, at Freemont flea market in Seattle. The Autopsies Group would like to thank Amy for the use of her image (both on our website and business cards).
Rebecca Harrison
