Undoubtedly, technological advances have positively impacted the sign industry. CNC routers enable dimensional and architectural-signage production in a fraction of the time required to carve by hand – and without the occasional irregularities. Likewise, digital printing has enabled mass production of large, high-quality, vivid, durable outputs far more prolific than handpainting. Who besides Michelangelo could persevere and provide detail to manually approximate a grand-format print? And, what customer today would be that patient?
However, niches remain for artisans who still use quills and sticks and create design patterns manually. Customers who prefer handmade signs’ nuances, or the caché of owning a uniquely crafted sign or gilded window, sustain the few signmakers who adhere to old-school techniques.
Damon Styer, a former mercantile-exchange trader who sought a return to his artistic roots, became such a fabricator when he first apprenticed at, and later purchased, San Francisco-based New Bohemia Signs. Though he concedes his workdays have lengthened as he attempts to keep pace with the ever-hastening speed of commerce, Styer values painting signs that bear his unique stroke.
An unusual path
Styer studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and graduated from its graphic-design program in 1993. After biding time working at an ice-cream shop, he signed on as an options trader and broker at the Pacific Stock Exchange. After having manned this high-pressure post for five years, he decided to seek a new path. After traveling the world for several months to divine his purpose, he began apprenticing at New Bohemia in June 1999.
“Initially, I tried to gain an apprenticeship with a furniture builder, but they had little interest in training somebody who didn’t already have experience,” he recalled. “Signage appealed to me because it combined design and handcrafting components.”
Maurice O’Carroll taught Styer strokes and serifs required to render myriad alphabets. He required Styer to arrive early for his shift to independently hone his skills. Styer also learned glass gilding’s particulars – decorated storefront windows and embellished transom numerals now entail a significant portion of New Bohemia’s business (and keep the bills paid during cold-weather months when sign demand wanes, he said).
Later in 1999, O’Carroll left the shop and recommended that the owners, Steve Karbo and Yvette Rutledge – who’d migrated to New Orleans three years earlier – replace him with Styer as the manager. After a brief “apprentice by telephone” arrangement, Styer purchased the shop in December of that year.
Methods
Styer primarily designs flat, painted, MDO signs. Occasionally, when customers ask for a dimensional placard, he’ll affix plastic Gemini letters. For most applications, he uses Chromatic or 1Shot® lettering enamels – he likes their sheen and fade resistance. With the exception of a few bright-orange or red, exterior signs, which most readily show evidence of wear, he’s never encountered fading or peeling with any of his handiwork.
For design, Styer initially sketches on graph paper. Following client approval, he uses dot paper (which he obtains from an apparel-supply warehouse) and an electric pouncing machine to transfer the sketch into an actual-size pattern. Recently, Styer conceded to the computer – he’s begun accepting digital files from clients, though he still creates pounce patterns.
For inspiration, Styer commonly references Steven Heller’s galleries of art deco designs, as well as Clarence P. Hornung’s seminal Handbook of Early Advertising Art, for their arrays of creative pictorials and typestyles. Like many traditional signmakers, Styer enjoys the intricate detail and gathers idea fodder from the whimsical designs of fruit-crate and cigar-box art (see ST, April 2007, page 62).
New Bohemia’s abundant glasswork requires different materials. Depending on turnaround requirements and price range, he’ll matte appropriate areas with 1Shot quick size or LeFranc Charbonnel slow size and fill in nongilded areas with black backup paint and add highlights and outlines with 1Shot. When surface gilding, Styer incorporates universal tints to mark size. He credits his gilding recipe to the late Rick “Daddy Finegold” Glawson – he embellishes his gilding (which features Monarch 23k gold) with a blend of resin gel and damar varnish.
One memorable project involved a diverse sign program for Calzone’s, an eatery in the North Beach neighborhood. To create distinctive, Italian ambience, Styer referenced pasta-box labels, olive-oil jugs and Amaretto cookie tins to infuse the interior signage with Old Country environmental graphics. For the exterior, backpainted-glass sign, he used 23k gold, variegated-copper and white-gold leaf with lettering enamel that yielded a colorful invitation to mangia!
The future
Styer freely admits he’s an artist first, not a businessman. Fortunately for his shop, he recently hired a longtime friend, Scott Thiessen, to handle the shop’s client contacts, scheduling and general management functions. This benefits Styer as he enters the shop’s peak season.
“Our workload has grown enough that I can’t handle design and fabrication by myself, let alone the callbacks and installation schedule,” he said. “I’ve even maintained enough steady business to periodically teach apprentices myself. I teach the same way I learned how to create alphabets and pictorials.”
Styer continued, “Traditional signmaking methods may disappear eventually, but I’m glad that there are those who still want to learn them. There’s a lot to be said for vinyl, printers, design software and CAS systems. They’re able to produce things infinitely faster, and in greater scale, than by hand. However, I like to create signage that bears a human connection. It’s important to me to keep that connection to my work, and I’ve been fortunate to maintain a healthy customer base that appreciates it.”