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The craft of painting signs, originally using pictures or symbols as very few people could read, is an ancient craft with examples in western civilisation dating back to Roman times. Painting lettering on signs became common in eighteenth-century England when literacy rates increased. The development of the craft was effectively complete by the start of the Victorian era, at which point signwriters were in high demand when each shop fascia was hand-painted. The craft declined significantly with the introduction of computer cut plastic signs in the 1980s, and most plastic shopfronts and leasing vehicles moved to plastic signs. However, there were a number of traditional signwriters who refused to abandon the craft.
Today we are proud to be one of around 300 signwriters spread across the UK, and the market for hand-painted signs is strong – for historic buildings, ‘traditional’ pubs and restaurants, vintage vehicles, horse drawn vehicles etc.
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