About Us

CasaTempo began with a single typewriter.

It was a 1967 Hermes Media 3 that I bought from a local collector who lived across the river from Lisbon. His ground floor apartment was filled with nearly two hundred typewriters. I wasn't planning to start a collection. I simply wanted a working machine that I could write with.

That was the plan, anyway.

One typewriter became five. Five became fifty. Before I knew it, my study was overflowing.

Eventually my partner looked around the apartment and said, "You have to do something about all these typewriters."

Before I could sell any of them, I had to get them working again. I spent countless hours taking machines apart, cleaning away decades of dust, grime, plus a few things I'd rather not mention, while teaching myself how to repair them. My goal was simple. I wanted every machine to be something I would happily use myself.

When I first listed them online, they didn't sell for months, but little by little people started finding them. What surprised me most wasn't the demand. It was the conversations that followed. Buyers sent photos of their writing desks, shared stories about finally owning the typewriter they had always wanted, or told me they had started writing again after a major life change.

Seeing these machines become part of other people's lives was incredibly rewarding. It made me realize that my work wasn't about making every machine look perfect. It was about treating each one with the respect it deserved, preserving the craftsmanship that went into making it, and giving it the opportunity to find a new home where it could be used again.

As the collection grew, so did my curiosity. I found myself drawn to other objects from the same period, including industrial lamps, metronomes, pottery, and everyday tools that shared the same thoughtful design and lasting craftsmanship. Together, they represent a time when things were built to last and made to be repaired rather than replaced.

Today, CasaTempo remains a small independent workshop in Lisbon, where every piece is carefully sourced, restored, and prepared by hand. My goal has never been to create museum pieces. I believe these objects belong on desks, in homes, and in everyday life, where they can continue writing, illuminating, and doing the jobs they were built to do decades ago.

Hi, I'm Jessie, the founder of CasaTempo.

Before starting CasaTempo, I trained as a biomedical engineer and spent years working in science and research. Looking back, I never imagined I'd end up working with vintage typewriters, but somehow it feels like everything I learned along the way led me here.

The first time I sat down at a typewriter, something clicked. The feel of the keyboard, the gentle but solid click-clack sound, and watching each letter appear instantly on paper made writing feel completely different. I actually lost sleep for the first few nights because I couldn't stop thinking about typing on it. There was something strangely addictive about it, a sensation I had never experienced with modern technology.

That curiosity eventually grew beyond typing. I wanted to understand how these machines worked, why they felt so satisfying to use, and what made each one different. Today I'm especially drawn to European typewriters from the 1950s through the 1970s, and I have a soft spot for unusual typefaces.

My cat, Benny, keeps me company in the workshop and insists on supervising every project.