Netherlands

Handel in Aardappelen (Potato Dealer) in Delft

A 1920s potato dealer sign from Delft in The Netherlands, photographed by David Quay, Type Tourist.

31 Mar 2024

Recycling & Rearranging Ghost Signs

The above fragment of a ghost sign was revealed by the demolition of the adjascent building in Melbourne in 2014, as documented by Al Briggs at RMIT… “The majority of existing ghost signs that remain in suburban Melbourne are signs that were originally painted on the side walls of our Milk Bars – local shops […]

7 Sep 2018

Ghostsigns in Amsterdam & Some Repainted

Last month I visited Amsterdam as part of my work on Better Letters. (Read more about it here, including lots more photos of lettering and signage.) While there I saw a number of ghostsigns, including many that have been repainted as part of the work that features in the book Tekens Aan De Wand. Below […]

29 Oct 2014

Tekens Aan De Wand: Ghostsign Restoration in the Netherlands

Tekens Aan De Wand (Writing on the Wall) is a book documenting the collective efforts of local historical societies across the Netherlands to restore ghostsigns. It is published by Trichis and features over 170 pages of beautiful painted signage, graphic design and archival photography. Sadly this review is limited by my lack of Dutch language […]

8 Jan 2014

New book charting hand painted advertising on walls in the Netherlands

Writing on the Wall (my article about them here) are publishing a book which I’m very excited about.  Details on the pdf below for those who read Dutch, otherwise try Google Translate with a copy and paste of the text for an approximate translation.  It is priced at 29.95euros and order enquiries should be sent […]

13 May 2012

Guided tour of hand painted advertising on walls in Utrecht, 11th May

It may be too late to book but for those in the Utrecht area this (pdf flyer) looks to be an informative tour of the city’s historic wall advertising.  (Organised by Writing on the Wall.)

10 May 2012

Two signs from The Hague sent to me by Martin Percival

Martin kindly sent me these that he took in The Hague. They are restoration jobs, details of the black and white one here [Link expired] and more on another organisation working on preservation in the Netherlands here.

9 May 2012

A lesser known rival to Pepsi and Coke in Amsterdam (via @FadingAd)

Photo: Frank Jump I like this sign from the Fading Ad blog, looks like it may have been repainted, perhaps by these guys.

29 Apr 2012

Writing on the Wall working to preserve and restore ghostsigns in the Netherlands

This organisation in the Netherlands was established in 1999 and has been working ever since to raise the profile of hand painted wall advertising in the country.  They also get involved with other outdoor forms such as hanging signs and neon advertisements, but the main focus is Ghostsigns, especially their restoration and protection.  A lot […]

9 Mar 2012

Ghostsigns World Tour

Perhaps being in Cambodia has sensitised me to the world of Ghostsigns beyond my home shores. Or maybe awareness of the project has encouraged those from around the world to make contact. Whatever it is, I thought it was time for a round-up of what’s landed in my inbox and surfaced on my internet radar […]

21 Jul 2011

Latest Received (sort of…)

Its been a while since I’ve posted some images received and I’ll probably be doing less of this as the Flickr group for the ghostsigns archive is now the natural home for all submissions, at least those from the UK and Ireland. However, I’ve been sitting on some pictures for a while now which its […]

25 May 2009

Window Painting

Shop window name painter Originally uploaded by Apotheker Nice picture here from a set of Apotheker in Amsterdam showing a window painter at work. Notice how he has masked off the letter heights. The full text is going to be ‘Bevlogen’ so I don’t know what the two little bits of masking at the end […]

25 Oct 2008