Craftsman, Teacher and Advocate

When he decided he wasn’t happy with his collegiate career, David Hassan faced a life/career crossroads. Rather than persevering in an unwanted major or taking an unsatisfying job, Hassan risked setting out his own shingle and started a sign business.

Through 37 years of playing his trade, Hassan has moved into several different workspaces within his hometown of Cohasset, MA, and embraced the technological and material changes necessary to remain competitive in today’s market. Also, although a lack of available tutelage forced him to resort to trial and error to further his skills, Hassan graciously offers his time to teach up-and-coming signmakers to perfect their craft.

From sigma to signage

In 1970, as a sophomore at Bridgewater State College, Hassan, then a math major, decided calculus wouldn’t serve as an ideal medium for him – thus, he followed a different tangent. One year later, he left school and opened his own shop. Hassan’s beginnings were humble – he and a cabinetmaker friend rented a run-down garage from a retired police officer.

“He looked at us like we were crazy,” he said. “We told him we’d fix it up and rent it for $50 a month. There was no heat; we had to bring in a wood stove to get through the winter. It was a rugged way to make a living, but I guess people were more used to it back then.”

Because he needed a band saw to form a block of wood to create a sculpture, Hassan approached Mr. Plante, his former industrial-design teacher, about using the school’s shop tools. Plante agreed, but asked Hassan to make a sign for him in exchange. Having no signmaking experience, he purchased a Speedball handlettering book to take a crash course. His high-school, wood-shop teacher, Plant proved a willing guinea pig for his first sign – “I carved his name by mimicking the Olde English font used on the Boston Globe’s header, and a houseplant to represent his last name.”

He cites several heroes who’ve inspired his career: “Mike Stevens vocalized the nebulous and made signmaking a scientific, straightforward process. Also, I’ve always admired the work of Noel Weber, David Butler and Gary Anderson, among others, and I’m proud to be part of this industry.”

For his first 10 years, Hassan’s work entailed wood signs exclusively. Situated halfway between Boston’s explosive growth and Plymouth’s popularity as a history-buff haven, his shop developed a vigorous workflow because mushrooming, independent restaurateurs and retailers craved quality, dimensional signage that provided unique identities. As Hassan’s business grew, he adopted a New Englander’s inclination for self-reliance and enhanced his skills.

“I hired a guy who said he’d painted signs to do some lettering for me,” Hassan said. “He painted one for me that was unsatisfactory. I asked him if he really had experience, and he hemmed and hawed and said, ‘Well, I’ve painted a couple of signs.’ I paid him for his work, sent him on his way and worked to become better at my craft.”

Getting up to speed

Throughout most of the ’80s, Hassan broadened his repertoire and increasingly produced painted and gilded signage that complemented his carving skills. Around that time, a pivotal event tuned him into the industry’s evolving technology.

Ritz Camera hired him to craft signage for several of its shops, and he subcontracted an installer to hang one of the signs across the state. Hassan and one of his employees drove it to the installer’s shop. When he returned, he found the installer had created a pen-plot template from the same layout Hassan had rendered by hand. Thus, he learned the Gerber Scientific Products IV-B plotter could offer greater efficiency.

He soon purchased one, and later followed with an Anagraph cutting plotter and Gerber EDGE® thermal-transfer printer, and enhanced his business with vehicle graphics. He began using the 12-in. printer, but, because of the size restriction and recurring tiling issues, he recently upgraded to a 30-in. Summa Inc. DC4SX plotter, which the company primarily uses to fabricate vehicle graphics, which bolster the shop’s repertoire.

For more than two decades, Hassan fashioned all 3-D signage by hand. Though his gouges and chisels still handle a significant amount of the shop’s carving work, he also relies on a MultiCam Inc. CNC router.

“Owning a CNC router has somewhat shifted my thinking as a signmaker,” he said. “Rather than thinking strictly as a fabricator, I also have to consider projects as a machinist or engineer would. You have to consider the substrate’s thickness and characteristics, the type of bit you’re using, and the rate of cutting and tooling, among other factors.”

Of course, software has been another significant component of Hassan’s signmaking evolution. Usually, he still hand-renders sketches to launch his creative process, particularly for layered, complex projects, but Hassan said learning the intricacies of CADlink Technology Corp.'s SignLab® 7 has enhanced his design efficiency and proficiency.

EnRoute, SA International’s software for 3-D sign fabrication, has also aided his capabilities. The last version, EnRoute 3, enhances detail in his production of relief models. His program knowledge spurred SA Intl. to make Hassan a beta tester for EnRoute 4, which will be introduced this year. He cited a brush tool that allows addition and subtraction of material as a key addition.

Hassan taught a class that outlined EnRoute 3’s capabilities, and, shortly after our conversation, he traveled to New York City for a full indoctrination about the new version in order to instruct other industry professionals.

“I used to teach woodworking back in the ’70s and ’80s, so instructing others isn’t new for me,” Hassan said. “I find that, when you’re teaching about a particular subject, it motivates you to learn it much better to have the understanding needed to explain it to someone else.”

Never a dull moment

Cohasset and its neighboring communities – Pembroke, Scituate, Hingham, Quincy and Braintree, among others – take pride in their history, and provide Hassan with myriad signmaking opportunities. One memorable project involved updating signage for a Hingham firehouse. Originally constructed in 1870, the station’s signage hadn’t been updated since 1942 – it had “rotted,” according to Hassan.

He replicated the original design, which he’d gleaned through an original architectural drawing and multiple photos, for the 12 ft. 6 in. x 9 ft. 6 in. panel. He machined the panel from several layers of 18-lb. Sign•Foam® 3 HDU backed with MDO, which provided added structural heft. After routing the scrollwork into different layers, Hassan and his fabricators spent several days carving the intricate pattern.

Because he generally uses acrylic-latex paints, Hassan coats surfaces to be gilded with Chromatic’s Ti-Cote latex paint and, for the fire-house sign, used more than 50 books of 23k patent leaf over slow size (which Hassan prefers over fast because of the flexibility the longer-tack window allows and the greater brilliance of the finished gild).

He also created a unique sign for a nearby body shop. The shop handcarved an appliqué that features a 1953 Ferrari against a verdant backdrop and applied it with epoxy and countersunk screws onto a 4 x 10-ft., routed-HDU panel with applied, routed lettering and a handcarved, flowing banner. After having created a rough sketch, he digitized the design with SignLab 7, colorized it with Adobe Photoshop and created the interwoven layers and tool-pathing with EnRoute 3.

Outside the shop, Hassan serves as an advocate for his local sign industry. To help avoid snags, he keeps detailed records of sign codes for municipalities throughout the Bay State where he plies his trade. In Cohasset, where he’s well known, and the town employs a seasoned, sign-friendly building inspector, Hassan hasn’t had a sign contested for 20 years.

However, the town’s planning board was less charitable. When the council chair made a motion to restrict residential-area signage to 1 sq. ft., he had to speak out against it. Hassan said, “I asked the chair-man, ‘Do you have any idea how large 1 sq. ft. is?’ He pointed out a sign I’d made as an example; the sign measured 5 sq. ft. Thankfully, the council rejected the measure. Too many public officials take signage for granted and really have no idea of the size required to be visible to motorists.”

Slowing down?

Hassan Signs is now a family affair. David’s son, Joshua, now serves as its CNC operator and production manager. David said, “He has more of an inclination towards the machinist mindset, and does a great job with fabrication and maintenance.”

Hassan employs two other, full-time employees, Ted Kiley and Tom Valeri, both of whom attended Boston’s Butera School of Art. Two part-time employees, woodcarver and vinyl-graphics fabricator Bob Giallongo and office manager Fred Koelsch, also contribute.

Over the years, Hassan has grown into five different shops. Currently, he operates with 2,800 sq. ft. on the same property as his residence. The site includes a production facility and office in two, on-premise buildings and a 600-sq.-ft. woodworking area, which includes his router in the basement (that area is well soundproofed to protect everyone’s hearing and sanity, Hassan said).

As he devotes more of his time to design and customer service and less to fabrication, he also hopes to develop quick-turnaround, stock items, such as carvings and appliqués, which he could market to other signshops and craftsmen. Hassan said, “I’m still working 60 to 70 hours a week. I love the sign business, but I’ve been at this a long time and wouldn’t mind slowing down a bit.”

He’s continued to resist installing a large-format printer because of the space constraints and the price-driven nature of this market. Also, he likes occupying a unique market niche. He said, “Someone who wants the most economical signage probably isn’t my target customer. I’ve established a significant clientele over the years and have managed to grow the shop primarily through word of mouth.”