UK
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Ghostsigns on Londonist Out Loud
I took N Quentin Woolf of Londonist Out Loud on a portion of my Ghostsigns Walking Tour in Stoke Newington. The result is this podcast (here on itunes, and here on Londonist) which we managed to record despite the myriad noises and distractions on the street. Thanks Quentin for putting it together.
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Ghost Signs and Public Lettering in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter
On 21 May, before my Type Talk at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, I helped lead a walk through the city’s historic Jewellery Quarter. This was in collaboration with Geraldine Marshall of the Birmingham Graphic DNA Project, and focused on the ghostsigns and public lettering that can be found in the quarter. It was […]
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W.A.Higgs & Co: A Stoke Newington Beauty
Walking past Tatreez, the Palestinian restaurant, I spotted this beautiful Victorian sign on the inside. It is clearly a shop fascia which got me wondering why it isn’t on the front? I did some digging at the Hackney Archives and found out that W.A.Higgs & Co. was an importer of tea. They had premises at […]
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F.C. Osborn and the Fading Fascias
This beautiful shop fascia was recently revealed on Dalston Lane, Hackney, London, as part of renovations to the shop by a new tenant. (Thanks Bryce for tipping me off!). The following photos show some of the detail of this sign for F.C.Osborn, Bookseller, who occupied the premises from the mid-1920s to at least 1950. Prior […]
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Time Travel with Google Streetview
This fragment of a ghostsign for Daren Bread in Stoke Newington is one of the stops on my walking tour in the area. Now, thanks to Google Streetview’s new ‘timelapse’ feature, we are able to visit the location as it was in 2008, prior to the removal of the mounted sign for Lemongrass. This clearly […]
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Scotland in Detail: Vintage Signs from Dave Cowan
This fabulous montage of Scottish ghostsigns was created by Dave Cowan of Scotland in Detail. It is available as a print from his store and he says the following of his work and this creation [Links expired]. I’ve been fascinated by these old signs for a few years now. They’re glimpses into the past and […]