Global Courant 2023-05-20 22:00:00
At Dave Benning’s art studio in Surrey, BC, dusty old typewriters have been given a shiny new life.
Each of the restored machines clicks and clacks with a distinctly painted theme; a starry sky with Woody from Toy Story paying homage to Tom Hanks, Harry Potter, Star Wars, a fiery red and black design featuring characters from Stranger Things.
Benning says the old-school typewriters capitalize on the appeal of vintage items like vinyl records and classic cars.
“We thought of typewriters as a really nice throwback to a simpler time and just an easier way of life where things weren’t so complicated,” said Benning. “You didn’t need Wi-Fi. You didn’t need all the extra bells and whistles.”
Brendan Raftery and Dave Benning team up to restore vintage typewriters. (Baneet Braich/CBC)
It all started two years ago as a pandemic passion project between two friends. Brendan Raftery, a musician from Port Moody, BC, with a keen interest in collecting and refurbishing typewriters restores the vintage machines and Benning applies new custom artwork.
Together they have refurbished 12 typewriters, most recently giving a refurbished machine to Canadian author Margaret Atwood and another to Terry Fox’s family.
Raftery says restoring the antique machines found in people’s attics, closets, and crawl spaces keeps them out of the landfill.
At the coast9:23Giving typewriters a new life
Brendan Raftery and Dave Benning have found a niche market: repairing typewriters and turning them into works of art. They share their passion with host Belle Puri.
“I’m cleaning up 50 years of cigarette smoke and cat hair and making them fully functional,” says Raftery, who has collected about 168 typewriters to date, mostly from Facebook Marketplace.
“These machines are 70, 80 years old, and they’re good for another 80… My goal is to keep them running.”
Darrell Fox says the typewriter made in his brother’s honor was particularly meaningful since Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope with a letter written on a typewriter. (Dave Benning and Brendan Raftery)
Terry Fox’s family touched by tribute
Recently, Benning and Raftery gave a typewriter to Terry Fox’s family. It features images of Fox on his Marathon of Hope and a quote from him in a typewriter-style font that reads:
“Even if I don’t finish it, we need others to continue. It must continue.”
Terry’s brother Darrell Fox said he was deeply impressed by Benning and Raftery’s work.
“The quality of the image, the images he chose, the quote he actually used, really moved me a lot,” said Darrell Fox.
The gift was particularly important, says Fox, as Terry announced his Marathon of Hope with a letter written on a typewriter.
“Some of the words Terry typed were incredibly powerful, and we use them today 43 years later when we focus and share Terry’s message.”
Documenting the career of a Canadian literary giant
The pair recently gifted author Margaret Atwood a typewriter to highlight her career.
Benning says he reached out to Atwood’s social media team and heard she was interested.
The pair took two months to prepare the typewriter, which pays homage to the Canadian literary giant’s novels and poems, and personally presented the 1939 Corona Zephyr typewriter to her at Vancouver’s Writers Festival earlier this month.
Vintage typewriters restored by Dave Benning and Brendan Raftery pay homage to ‘Stranger Things’, Star Wars and Harry Potter. (Baneet Braich/CBC)
“It was very difficult to capture such a great career on such a small machine,” said Benning.
She now keeps the machine in her house, he said.
The couple plans to honor other well-known Canadians. They are starting a project that pays homage to actor John Candy and will soon start a typewriter with Michael J. Fox. An Adam Project-themed Olivetti Lettera 22 shows Ryan Reynolds’ image.
The work has been well received, Benning said, and in some cases signed. Their Star Wars themed typewriter was signed by Anthony Daniels, the actor who played C-3PO.
“He was blown away,” he said of Daniels. “He’d never signed a typewriter before, but he’d signed pretty much everything else.”
The artists hope to keep typewriters, whether sitting on a bookshelf to be admired or used to write more stories.
“If we could tell a story on a typewriter that was made for storytelling, I think that would be a really cool thing,” said Benning.
