Sam Roberts

New Painted Signs in Sussex

Through the D&AD blog I was alerted to this campaign by the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership which has added hand painted signs to their TV ‘commercial’. These painted elements were done by Aroe and this one in particular is pretty big. I wonder if the currently vogue for street art might lead to more collaborations […]

2 Mar 2010

February Favourites

Every so often I have a dig around in the Ghostsigns Flickr group to see what new arrivals have landed since my last visit. Leaving it for two months meant that over yesterday and today I’ve made lots of great discoveries.  As yet they’re not all due to be included in the archive but I […]

26 Feb 2010

Tom Bland

In the course of researching and documenting ghostsigns from across the country I have come across many distinctive ways of interpreting the signs, via photographic means or in broader media such as paint and sculpture/models (see Martin Thompson, Stuart Free and Emmanuel Nouaillier for example). Recently I have discovered the work of photographer Tom Bland […]

19 Feb 2010

Roofads

Church Street, Ashbourne, Derbyshire Photo: rebalrid As I get increasingly close to the material gathered for the archive I start to notice little subtexts, themes and oddities within the collection. The latest of these is a series of what I have tentatively called ‘roofads’. These are signs painted directly onto the roofing tiles of buildings, […]

18 Feb 2010

Postcards

A sneak preview of some postcards that I’ve been working on with Jane to accompany the launch of the archive. More news of these and how to get hold of them to follow…

12 Feb 2010

Jericho, Oxford Update

It seems that the threat to a couple of iconic signs in Oxford has passed, for the time being (see the story in the Oxford Mail). Following the tip off from Isisbridge late last year I talked briefly about the signs on the old blog. The lobby that galvanised around preserving the original building appears to […]

10 Feb 2010

Martin Wilson

Fascinating work from Martin Wilson discovered in Ultrabold (see previous pieces on ghostsigns here and here).  Ultrabold is the quarterly journal of the St Bride Library which is just off Fleet Street. I discovered the library a couple of years ago and it really is one of London’s hidden treasures, especially for those interested in […]

4 Feb 2010

Liverpool Ghost Signs on TV

This was broadcast on ITV Granada on Sunday, 31st January and featured Caroline & Phil Bunford who have added their collection of signs from Liverpool to the archive.  This follows up the piece on the BBC Liverpool website. Well done Caroline, look out for more coverage of the project in the coming months. [Update: Liverpool […]

2 Feb 2010

Flook

[Update: This application no longer exists.] This free iPhone app now features ghostsigns in the form of geolocated photo cards.  My Flickr images have been used to test the app’s integration with the photosharing website and the results have been a success. By getting the app on your iPhone you can view and create photo […]

21 Jan 2010

Ancient Ghostsigns

Are these the oldest ghost signs in the world? Will at Naked came back from a trip to Italy where he visited the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum which were covered in volcanic ash for around 1,700 years following the eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79AD. While he was there he took these three fascinating […]

21 Jan 2010

Stuart Free Interview

The Independent on Sunday have an interview with Stuart Free, the artist who created this painting of the Donovan Bros sign in Spitalfields before it was repainted.  (My original post about Stuart has more commentary and he is also mentioned in the ‘Interpretations’ segment of my recent talk at Middlesex University.) Read the full interview […]

17 Jan 2010

Project press (BBC Liverpool)

Caroline has secured the first press coverage for the archive and her work capturing signs in Liverpool.  Read the full story on the BBC Liverpool website. If anyone else has any contacts that would be interested in covering the 18th March launch then get in touch. [Update: Liverpool Ghost Signs book now published.]

15 Jan 2010

Draft Chapter (Food & Drink)

I’d love to get your feedback on a draft chapter for a possible book to accompany the archive. If this gets published then it will help raise funds to support the ongoing work of the History of Advertising Trust in this area. As usual please leave comments below or get in touch. NB. The images […]

8 Jan 2010

Who was Little Miss Barber?

Check out these West Midlands signs featuring a character called Little Miss Barber. But who was she? She appears on painted advertisements for Barber’s, Orantips and Twinings teas but besides these photos there seems to be no record of this energetic tea promoter. More images can be viewed in this Flickr gallery, any help finding […]

8 Jan 2010

Standard Fireworks (RIP)

Photo by robo2004 Destruction and demolition are no strangers to ghostsigns, as the expanding list of ‘obituaries’ documents. Recently news has reached me of one loss and another potentially on the horizon.  These show why the work on the archive is important in preserving the last survivors of this lost art/craft form. First up is this […]

22 Dec 2009

Merry Christmas from Ghostsigns

A little video treat to wish you all the best for the festive season, courtesy of the ghostsigns project. (Inspired by Jane’s card and with music from The Children of St. Philips School Cambridge.) Merry Christmas!

20 Dec 2009

Rage Factor

This campaign now has hand painted signs to support it!  The objective is to ‘steal’ the Christmas number one spot from this year’s X-Factor winner and here are the painters at work spreading the message. If you want to help with the effort then for just 29p you can do your bit to crack Cowell […]

15 Dec 2009

What was John Bull?

A magazine or a tyre brand? Or something else? While working on refining the categories for the archive I came across two signs which I am now uncertain about and I need your help. These are both for brands that adopted the moniker John Bull, which I now understand is a generic character akin to […]

12 Dec 2009

100 Contributors

100 photographers have now added their pictures to the forthcoming archive using this form. The 100th person to do so was Terry Cliss, known as casillero on Flickr, and one of his images is this one for a fantastic sign in Frome. Contributors to date: addedentry akvinby7 Albert S. Bite Alex Dennis Alquin Antony J […]

11 Dec 2009

Charlton Signwriting

Some photos and film from a visit to Charlton to see Chris of Northern Star Creative at work on a sign for a garage. It was great to see him in action and to hear some of his stories from when he used to run a signwriting shop on the Woolwich Road. He’s writing these […]

4 Dec 2009

Chatting with the Ritual Project

I did an interview with the New York project as it reaches its climax. Read it in full here and find out more about their work here.

1 Dec 2009

Black Cat Audio

Fascinating audio giving some history behind the Black Cat sign on Dingley Road, EC1.  This includes the observation that the growth of the cigarette industry in the early part of the last century was partly fuelled by the fact that soldiers fighting in the war were given fags in their rations. They then got hooked […]

27 Nov 2009

Ghostsigns (Most Wanted)

Here are six Flickr galleries of signs not yet ready for inclusion in the Ghostsigns Archive.  The archive is set to launch in January 2010. To date there have been almost 3,000 photos added to the Flickr group from over 300 photographers. Many of these have also been confirmed as gifts to the History of […]

26 Nov 2009

Ritual Project Update

The project is into its final few days and there are some interesting snippets of the painters at work, both close up and in time lapse. Here are a few highlights, more here and here. I’d personally like to see some longer clips with perhaps some discussion from the painters about the techniques employed. I […]

26 Nov 2009