Inspired by Signs

Artistic and other interpretations of ghost signs.

I recently (28 October) hosted ‘Font Sunday’ on Twitter with the theme of ‘fading fonts’ to mark the changing of the clocks and the fading light it signifies. Among the contributions made was a tweet from Eliza Brownjohn, daughter of the designer Robert Brownjohn (1925-1970) […]

London Street Level by Robert Brownjohn

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections and tagged 1961 Eliza Brownjohn London London Street Level Robert Brownjohn UK V&A on November 9, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Earlier this year I was lucky to attend the launch of Lost & Foundry, a collection of fonts created and published by Fontsmith in collaboration with M&C Saatchi. They are inspired by various of pieces of historic signage in Soho, and funds raised from their […]

Fonts Inspired by Ghost (and other) Signs

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Preservation and tagged Charity Font Fontsmith House of St Barnabas London Lost & Foundry M&C Saatchi Soho Typeface UK on October 26, 2018 by Sam Roberts

One of the ‘bonus’ stops on my Bankside Ghostsigns Walk is a pair of signs on the back The Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel (Doyce Street and Great Guildford Street). These convey the euphemistic line, ‘Commit No Nuisance‘, which translates to ‘please don’t urinate here’. Many […]

Commit Some Nuisance for Bankside

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Art Bankside Better Bankside Borough Market Commit No Nuisance LDF18 London London Design Festival NB Studio Nick Finney UK on September 28, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society is now showing for four days at the Bargehouse, behind the OXO Tower on London’s South Bank. Visitors can take in the c.30 pieces from an international cast of contemporary sign and lettering artists, each inspired by entries […]

Now Open: The Grand Exhibition of the Pre-Vinylite Society

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Initiatives Sign Stories and tagged 1762 Bargehouse Exhibition Grand Exhibition Letterheads 2018 London Calling London Letterheads Meredith Kasabian Pre-Vinylite Society on August 16, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Tomorrow, Thursday 16 August, Craig Winslow is bringing his Light Capsules project back to London for a ‘one night only’ special reboot of the 100-year-old Barlow & Roberts ghost sign at 25-33 Southwark Street (under the railway arch). As darkness falls the sign will come […]

Light Capsules is Back (for one night only)

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Barlow & Roberts Craig Winslow Letterheads Light Capsules on August 15, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Digital artist Andrei Lacatusu has created Social Decay, a series of images depicting a possible future of washed-up digital companies and their derelict signs. They are ‘faux’, although in a different sense to those that I’ve documented in the past. An article on Digital Arts […]

Social Decay from Andrei Lacatusu

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Initiatives and tagged Andrei Lacatusu Art Digital Art Facebook Faux Google Illuminated Instagram Neon Pinterest Tinder Twitter on August 10, 2018 by Sam Roberts

The following article is re-posted from the original on Better Letters. This August we’ll be opening a very special sign painting exhibition within the public-facing part of Letterheads 2018: London Calling. It is being curated by Meredith Kasabian of Best Dressed Signs and the Pre-Vinylite […]

The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Destinations Sign Folk Sign Initiatives Sign Making Sign Stories and tagged 18th Century Better Letters Exhibition Grand Exhibition Letterheads 2018 London Calling Meredith Kasabian Pre-Vinylite Society Signs on June 22, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Job Weessies is a Dutch model maker and, after some time working on railway models, he has moved into working with card and on creating street scenes. While he has never visited London, or indeed the UK, he uses a variety of publically available resources […]

The Dioramas of Northall by Job Weessies

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Diorama Job Weessies London Model Making Northall UK on June 1, 2018 by Sam Roberts

After publishing the wonderful photos of one-time Paris sign business E. Gautier, I was alerted to this project and the above video where the sign makes a brief cameo. Five of my favourites below, but make sure you check out the full collection, including background […]

The Shopfronts of ‘Paris Re-Tale’

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections and tagged France Paris Pixartprinting Sebastian Erras Shop Fronts on May 4, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Roy Reed is a prolific collector and researcher of ghost signs, and uses his skills as a designer to decipher them. I’ve featured his work previously, on the almost illegible William Walker & Sons sign in Bermondsey. Roy is also a co-collaborator on the forthcoming […]

Roy Reed’s Reconstructions

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Folk Sign Initiatives and tagged Deciphering Reconstruction Roy Reed on April 27, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Michelle Heron is a London-based painter with a paticular fascination for old shops and shop fronts. Her paintings depict iconic fascias, many of which have been lost since she turned her attention to them, and some that survive in a state of perpetual uncertainty. As […]

Michelle Heron’s Fantastic Fascias

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Initiatives and tagged Art Blustons Cooke Egg Stores Jones Dairy London Michelle Heron Peter Hardwicke UK Zodiac on April 20, 2018 by Sam Roberts

Independently of each other I have been sent photos of this beautiful Paris ghost signs by Wim Dammers and book contributor Leisa Clements. It is a remarkably elaborate piece of work, including picturials in other sections. This is isn’t surprising as it is advertising the […]

E. Gautier’s Beautiful Paris Ghost Signs

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk Signs of Note and tagged Art E. Gautier Enseignes France Frederick Brill Homage a' Atkinson Grimshaw Leisa Clements Paris Signwriter Stephen Gavin Tot Brill Wim Dammers on April 6, 2018 by Sam Roberts

On one of my walking tours back in 2014 guests had the opportunity to see this reveal of a newsagent and tobacconists’ sign at No.5 Stoke Newington Church Street. Starlove, as it was known, occupied the premises from at least 1962 until the late 1970s […]

Numbers 3-7 Stoke Newington Church Street

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Stories and tagged A Nation of Shopkeepers Amir Dotan Art BEJ Smith Confectionery Hackney History of Stoke Newington Laurence George Shepherd London N16 Newsagent Player's Player's No.6 Privilege Reveal Rosa Sheppards Market Starlove Stoke Newington Stoke Newington Church Street Tobacco UK on December 29, 2017 by Sam Roberts

Back in May, Marco Bazelmans contacted me about a project he was working on as part of his communication design studies in Aachen, Germany. The brief was to create a guide of some sort, and he had selected signwriting as his theme. In particular, he […]

‘London Sign by Sign’ by Marco Bazelmans

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Collections Sign Folk Signs in Media and tagged Book London Marco Bazelmans Signwriter Signwriting Tours UK on October 4, 2017 by Sam Roberts

Tom Pawlesh got in touch and shared his cool collection of images composed by juxtaposing ghostsigns with a variety of classic cars. He has currently amassed almost 50 in total and I was happy to hear that Tom is already in contact with Dana Forrester […]

Cars and Ghost Signs by Tom Pawlesh

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk and tagged Classic Cars Ghostsigns Photography Tom Pawlesh USA on December 13, 2016 by Sam Roberts

Craig Winslow is an experiential designer who has recently turned his gaze towards ghostsigns, and the creative possibilities offered by applying his expertise in light projection mapping. The idea first came to him during a trip across America and has grown since. In essence it […]

Light Capsules from Craig Winslow

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk Sign Initiatives Sign Preservation and tagged Adobe Barlow & Roberts Cakebread Robey Cockle & Co Craig Winslow Creative Residency Ghostsigns Gillette LDF16 Light Capsules London London Design Festival N16 Palimpsest Projection Mapping Projections Restoration SE1 Take Courage Tours UK Westminster Gazette Wire Works on September 7, 2016 by Sam Roberts

The Poetry Takeaway is a fun, interactive rapid poetry unit, and I was lucky enough to get one written for me a couple of weeks ago when I met the team at Here London. After a high-energy chat/interview with poet Michelle Madsen, I left her […]

‘Phantoms’ by Michelle Madsen of the Poetry Takeaway

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Ghostsigns Here London Michelle Madsen Phantoms Poem Poetry Poetry Takeaway on June 24, 2016 by Sam Roberts

E.Mono Shop Front — Back in 2011 an old 1920s shop fascia was revealed on Kentish Town High Street. The nature of the E.Mono business remains a mystery but the new occupants, a kebab shop, decided the sign was worth keeping and named their shop after the historic proprietors. […]

E.Mono in North London

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Preservation Sign Stories Signs of Note and tagged 1920s E.Mono Fading Fascias Fascia Finsbury Park Kentish Town Lettering London North London Protection Reveal Station Place UK on February 28, 2015 by Sam Roberts

Fading sign painted on a wall advertising Dr King — This Melbourne ghostsign is a recent reveal and was captured by Nick Gadd, the writer behind Melbourne Circle. Nick’s research into the sign was recently published in an anthology of papers titled ‘Melbourne Subjective‘. He investigates the sign and creates a tentative hypothesis about who […]

Dr King: The Story of a Melbourne Ghostsign by Nick ...

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Stories Signs in Media Signs of Note and tagged Article Australia Dr King Medical Melbourne Melbourne Circle Melbourne Subjective Nick Gadd Reveal on September 17, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Brimay Safety Matches Ghost Sign — One of the things I most enjoy about my work on ghostsigns is getting involved with student projects using the signs as a springboard into other creative processes. I’ve helped on a number of these, most recently the work of Gloria Soria at London College […]

Ghosting with Ghost Signs: An Experiment in Risography

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Art Ghosting Ghostsigns Gloria Soria LCC London College of Communication Print Printing Risograph Risography on August 13, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Ghostsigns for Coca-Cola are found all over the USA and other parts of the world, although I know of only one in the UK. However, there’s now a few inside the company’s London head quarters, although these are strictly in the ‘faux’ category. I was […]

Faux Ghostsigns for Coca-Cola’s London HQ

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Making and tagged Coca-Cola Coke Drink Faux Ghostsigns London Sign Painters Soft Drink UK on July 2, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Montage of vintage signs from Scotland — This fabulous montage of Scottish ghostsigns was created by Dave Cowan of Scotland in Detail. It is available as a print from his store and he says the following of his work and this creation. I’ve been fascinated by these old signs for a few […]

Scotland in Detail: Vintage Signs from Dave Cowan

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Folk and tagged Art Dave Cowan Dundee Edinburgh Ghostsigns Glasgow Montage Montrose Palimpsest Scotland Scotland in Detail UK on March 26, 2014 by Sam Roberts

Different letters found in Dalston assembled to make the phrase 'Club Labrynth' — This is my creation following Sunday’s Type Safari in Dalston with Type Tasting. It is a composite of various pieces of public lettering and signage that I photographed while on ‘safari’ with Type Tasting’s Sarah Hyndman. The brief was to bring a phrase that represents […]

Rediscovering Club Labrynth on a Type Safari

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs Sign Destinations and tagged Club Labrynth Dalston Four Aces Hackney Lettering London Sarah Hyndman Sype Safari Type Tasting UK on January 21, 2014 by Sam Roberts

cassannet from atipo on Vimeo. This film is promoting the typeface Cassannet, inspired by the iconic Dubonnet triptych found on numerous ghostsigns across France. The campaign was originally designed for the brand by the artist Cassandre and this typeface has been designed by Atipo in […]

Cassannet: A Dubonnet-Inspired Typeface

This entry was posted in Inspired by Signs and tagged Atipo Cassandre Cassannet Dubonnet Font France Typeface Video on November 24, 2013 by Sam Roberts