WORKING TOGETHER – keeping the project clear and easy

Communication is everything and starts with detailed sharing of all design information – clarity always transfers across to the finished sign itself so we encourage as much info as possible.

We are highly communicative as project partners and work at getting the preparation just right in order to deliver the painted work without hitch.   It’s the difference… it guarantees a  sensational final product on time.

   -  Fwd your design 

   -  NGS confirm or tweak for visual layout

   -  Final checks on layout style

   -  Writing on site

Organisation lies at the heart of what NGS do – We will schedule you in and keep you there come rain or…

WHATEVER YOU WANT…

CAN DO is very important and I understand that your logo will need care and precision.  

Whether you want sharp cool modern zen-graphic minimalism, or grungy retro vintage lettering, give me a call or email me.

A MAN OF FINE LETTERS – A FINE ART TRAINING COUNTS

Traditional signwriting?? … it’s much more than that today really.  

I am a traditional typeface designer maintaining all the classical beautification of yesteryear, yet today I am executing work in a purely modern design context -

What makes me different from other signwriters is in the words of my clients is Freshness..

There is a secret to how I do it compared to other writers.

Most signwriters started in signwriting and journeyed on from there.  I didn’t.  I started in the Royal Portrait Society and Royal Academy of Art.  But I loved writing at that time more than portraiture.  The intensity of that type of artistry gave me the edge… the secret to the beauty in my lettering is fine art.

And it is a big difference because it will give you quality and success.

… after decades of dedication you start to realise you are a product of your forefathers great efforts.

… if you need a job doing ask a busy person – I’m busy and I can do your sign next week.  

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Real signwriting is an unbeatable option – it says so much about you.

    –  Real Signwriting has beauty and depth
    –  Signwriting is full of character
    –  Real Signwriting is rich and ages beautifully, still looking stunning after many years

PART 3 Gallery

Some recent works… there’s more!

          -  Fascias

          –  Glass 

          –  Gilding

Thanks for dropping by.

Browse the website and find something you really love then fwd yr email.

Email nickgarrettsigns@gmail.com

PART 4

SITEMAP

Beautiful Painted Signs:  by eye, by hand – 3 decades          TOP

   -   Looking for the best way to attract new customers?

   -   Re-create a hi viz stunning new brand logo?

               or simply just get your name out there?

My traditional hand painted sign writing service delivers a clear beautiful message for you – a quality sign to launch your product and name.  

When I make a sign for someone it is incredibly important because it will play a huge part in building their business 

………..   ..

PART 6

GALLERY – more signs by Nick Garrett

Project design enquiries: 07540096560

Email nickgarrettsigns@gmail.com

I think traditional makers stick at their craft continuously – that is the main defining quality.  But they also embrace useful change that adds to product quality.  If you do something continuously it gets better naturally…

Part 7

A DESIGN HERITAGE:

GREAT GRANDFATHER TO G’SON ALWAYS BY HAND

My legacy proudly includes my distant forefather Hector Linton who whittled up the Cutty Sark.

But I have directly benefited from the guidance of my grandfather and my 3 generation London lettering heritage (see article: Portrait of my grandfather Francis Baker LINK), which will all help us create exactly what you are looking for.

Anything is possible when you work by hand with a real team of professionals.

My writing is always by hand!

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When you see someone string together a length of block letters with a little shadow it fills you with admiration… you can’t admire a vinyl machine cutting letters in that way; and that admiration makes you feel so so good inside. That’s the power of tradition, craftsmanship, artistry an love of what you do. 

Video:  Refining Windsor Bold font…

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 or email me:  

   londonsignwriter@yahoo.co.uk      nickgarrettsigns@gmail.com

Nick Garrett Signs  

Traditional Signwriter London

For Murals, Fascias, Vans, Gilding,

Custom Typeface design, Brand design, logo creation

Browse ?Culture ?Holidays

… when we blow up a letter on-screen no matter the font
it is only ever a curve or a straight

No vectors – vectors are a sadness and must be lost…

… when we strike the letter from our heart it reveals the entity of utter beauty… there is no purer way and no finer beauty.

When you move the curve you must know the finest moment of perfection.

Many can paint great letters … few can strike them utterly beautifully.

That is what we must do. That is what I do.

NGS case: Barbour new store Leadenhall Market – gilding in the absolute centre of London… local blokes with brushes..

History: The Traditional London Market

The market dates back to the 14th century. Originally a meat, game and poultry market, it stands on what was the centre of Roman London.  A number of commercial retailers are also located in the market, including clothes shops and a pen shop , the newest being the Barbour shop, the subject of this article.

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The ornate roof structure, painted green, maroon and cream, and cobbled floors of the current structure, designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones.

An early 20th century view of the market and actual site of our recent project beneath the colonnade, to right hand side

From 1990 to 1991 the market received a dramatic redecoration, enhancing its architectural character and detail. The redecoration scheme received a special mention in the Civic Trust Awards 1994. The market is a Grade II* Listed Building, being listed in 1972.

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Leadenhall Market formed part of the marathon course of the 2012 Olympic Games.

NGS and the Barbour project – Unit 31 L Mkt – Pieces out of the Jigsaw

Jigsaw is about to be painted out forever…

David Wong the director of the market was responsible for putting Andrew Gill of Active Interiors in touch with me regarding the re-paint and new gild of the 6 main fascia panels in this wonderful heritage landmark.

It’s one thing climbing up a ladder in Notting Hill but another planet working on the very architecture that depicts so much in the eyes of the world and her visitors, the essence of traditional London. This project started and continued in a delightfully fun and meaningful way for me as it brought together the very best of what it means to be a truly professional artist… and passing that tradition on. A London signwriter is a London signwriter.

The deadline was fairly tight and after identifying the font style and forming up the layout in perfect space we,the veritable Jack Hollands and myself, arrived on site to commence work brushes in hand.

Above: NGS’s Jack Hollands making headway with his first application of gold leaf on oil size.

First task was to clean the fascia and find a good tea maker. That done as we were surrounded but such establishments we started the rub down with wet dry, taking off the existing gilded lettering which read JIGSAW and painting out with grey.

My wife will be heartbroken…

We were hoping the repaint could have been localised  but the fascia was too faded.

The first thing we argued about however was how the existing lettering was made in the first place… after a couple of minutes I knew previous lettering had been vinyl stencilled and gilded and so we had no remorse in taking down this, as we saw it, the vinyl gilding was a complete waste of opportunity to beautify this Grade II buildings.

How sad that the stencil had invaded such an opportunity at brilliance and craft… we sanded with impunity!

My intention was to make a series of stunning hand gilded sign panels for the client and work had begun.

• Erect tower
• Undercoat existing lettering.
• First coat and cut in to gilded numerals and coach-lining.
• Second coat same
• Gold Leaf Lettering
• Shade

Hard work and the perfect distraction… Brogue hunting

It had been a while as they say and getting it up was hilarious… the tower that is!  HSS kept us waiting until 2pm on day 1 but once on site we didn’t waste any time in making complete fools of ourselves with lots of tower sections and poles whirling about and not the faintest what with them to do.

There was a lot going on around the place and Jack was seriously on form finding a local Brogue shoe maker which had us gawking through the window at first tea break.

Local inspiration – Pictures tell a truly glorious local story

Working in this harvest of design was the perfect setting to take young Jack’s developing skills quite a way forward and on day 2 I had him start up his own fascia - 

It is amazing what passion for the art can do for a trainee.  His work came on tremendously!!

Standby for Jack’s stunning designing of the new NGS logo and final Degree show work – invitations included.

The Lettering

The font we grabbed from a previous photoshoot and formed the title firstly in Photoshop.  The typeface was redrawn to create certain anomalies and poetics such as slightly irregular serifs, shading spans and refinements to the ‘R’ character form.

Layout

I montaged the word Barbour from the letters gathered by Jack’s iPhone and overlaid with Clarendon Bold. This was tweaked to fit the existing letter span.

Finally the characters wer redrawn in PS3 aligning the serifs nad characteristics to the original Leadenhall typeface.

The gold to be used was Handover’s, specifically pressed to the requirements of the day.

On start-up the very low working temperature made the 3 Hour Lefranc gold size slow going and difficult to get to open up and flow.

The first batch of gold leaf was rejected and returned for a freshly pressed batch of 23ct 6.75 ton pressure.

Once this problem was corrected with the aid of chocolate and course humour, the gilding went smoothly.

Shading;  The black Oneshot enamel shade was zipped on with a shorter haired writer size 5.

Deserving of only the real thing – Gold Leaf

I was amazed at how many overseas visitors flowed through the market every day and it certainly brought home to me the importance of the City Corporation realising that hand painted lettering is really the only way to go for such a special icon:

The amount of tour groups visiting Leadenhall deserve the real thing. Not the vinyl masking that was used before.  Jack Hollands

TM and facts

Work duration for 6 fascias 5.5 days – 3 artists.

Nick Garrett, Jack Hollands, Sam James

Access double staged tower.

Tapes: Frog low tac and Leylands yellow sharp cut.

Enamels: Oneshot.

Orange Gold size: Lefranc from Cornellisons’s

Tea: English Breakfast

Lunch: POD

Beer:  Young’s Bitter

Leaving site finished up left us both feeling hollow and sad… fulfilled, yet yearning for the next big project challenge.

A wonderful week in a wonderful setting – Old London town.

www.nickgarrettsignwriter.com

www.londonsignwrite.com

CV Signs – Nick Garrett  Handwritten Typographics

Nick Garrett Fine Signwriter

http://londonsignwriter.wordpress.com/

Related articles

• The missing Finsbury Park Tavern sign panel!! (desight.wordpress.com)

• Hello nut boxers (nutboxsigns.wordpress.com)

• Student protest to march on City – BBC News (bbc.co.uk)

… but it is very expensive… we can’t afford it.

NGS reply:

The only expensive sign is a cheap one – because it fails you,

… misrepresents you and portrays you as second rate. It attracts the wrong customer base which raises the likelihood of contractual problems and at worst a bad client will one day dishonour you.

It will take you on a rocky path when going that bit extra would have brought you to the road of success… and much more.

There is nothing like calculating correctly, a measure of going forward risk and experiencing immediate success entirely on the back of your own sound business judgement. A good sign EARNS for you, it costs you nothing.

NGS will portray your own success and for years to come, your sign will become your greatest sales asset and marketing partnership.

Great signs therefore cost???

(ask me for terms and payment options – I can spread a payment over 3 months)

Real signwriting is an unbeatable option – it says QUALITY

    –  The price of vinyl today is more expensive because it doesn’t last
    –  Signwriting is more dynamic and full of character
    –  When signwriting ages it still looks stunning (if not better!)

Simple we thinks… 

Gilding our way around London

    Like Us!!

    NGS –  a completely modern traditional sign-writing service 

               31 years Traditional Writing experience (Est 1981)

               Sharp sweet quality

               Classic & Copperplate Typeface Specialist

               Modern Wharf Retro treatments

               Great t0-budget value

               Large scale Project Design expertise

               View my Client Testimonials

             … recent work.

Links

Case Histories    Testimonials    Blog   Gallery   Quality Charter

Nick Garrett Signs  

Traditional Signwriter London

For Murals, Fascias, Vans, Gilding,

Custom Typeface design, Brand design, logo creation

Call us on 07951509238