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The Sign Depot Creates California Motif for Toronto Restaurant

Famous director Ivan Reitman’s restaurant, Montecito, provides warm welcome with facade signs

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With such events as the Marshall McLuhan International Festival of the Future, L’Oreal Fashion Week and countless other functions, Toronto rivals New York and San Francisco in cultural significance. Yet, arguably, its most significant contribution to the global-arts community is the Toronto International Film Festival, which is staged every September. Only the Cannes and Sundance Festivals match the credence given by critics and big-screen enthusiasts to Toronto’s festival winners.

Naturally, Toronto cinema buffs would eagerly visit restaurants with a connection to movies. They can now enjoy such an offering in Montecito, owned by Ivan Reitman, the director of such legendary classics as Stripes, Animal House and Ghostbusters. The restaurant has received accolades for the California-themed, rustic character of its food. And, of course, the twin signs on the restaurant’s facades should reflect what’s served inside the doors.

Mackay Wong, the design firm that created the restaurant’s ambiance, and BLT, its general contractor, had completed several successful projects with The Sign Depot (Kitchener, ON, Canada), and again enlisted owner Peter Moir and his shop to fabricate its sign.

“The designers wanted something contemporary, yet unique and indicative of a craftsman’s work,” he said.

The Sign Depot created the sign’s production files using CADlink’s SignLab Pro software, and subcontracted the acrylic-panel and cabinet fabrication to Concord, ON-based Advanced Lighting. Advanced CNC-routed all components to ensure accurate fit and consistency. The signs’ base layers comprise 0.080-in.-thick aluminum, which Moir prefers due to its lightweight construction and non-corrosive properties. The push-through letters, cut from ¾-in.-thick acrylic, protrude 5/8 in. above the signface. The Sign Depot installed Allanson LEDs to create the cabinet’s warm light, along with a 3M diffuser-film layer.

To provide the enhanced appearance of dimension, Moir specified front pan faces 3 in. wider than the cabinets beneath. This provides the appearance of shadow and texture on the surface, according to Moir. The acrylic push-through letters were sandblasted to create a frosted-white appearance that mimics a sunset’s diffused light, he said. To add detail to the panel, The Sign Depot applied several layers of a metal-patina wash, which Moir let run off the face to create whatever tints naturally occur.

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To create dimension on the aluminum surface, the Sign Depot used a handheld router with a ball-nose bit. Moir said the routing marks push the image forward to further enhance the sign’s dimension.

He said, “We first tried to sandblast the image, but the heat from the blast created surface distortions. Handcarving was our second or third option, but it turned out to be the most visually compelling.”

Moir continued, “The job’s biggest challenge was deciding how to reflect the feel of the restaurant through a physical, fabricated thing. How do you describe a feeling with a sign? Good food is crafted by hand, and I wanted the same feel from the sign. Small decisions such as sandblasting the acrylic and using a diffuser filter changed the color, and the patina created the final element of bringing a sunny California ambience to the heart of downtown Toronto.”
 

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