What's Your Type?

Rachel Hannah, 44, and Kerry Loeb, 53, own a novel business called "what's your type," which turns old typewriter keys into jewelry.

The pair, who are also the firm's only employees, scour the nation for old typewriters. The business began after Hannah, the more artistic partner, found herself marveling at an old typewriter in 1997. It inspired her to create a collection of handmade earrings, cufflinks, necklaces, rings and bracelets from the keys of old machines, with pieces selling for $12 to $90. The couple are also developing a line of dog collars.

They use only the typewriters' keys but, with a mission statement of "taking something that's on its way to trash (and) recycling it into art or donating it to kids," Hannah and Loeb also concern themselves with the typewriters' ultimate end. "We really care about the typewriters being recyclable. We send the good ones to Mexico (to villages where there is no electricity), and we send the guts up to this artist in Tahoe," Loeb explains.