Every time I see a particularly amazing painted sign, window, or sandwich board in San Francisco, it turns out it was made by the talented folks at New Bohemia Signs. I've always wished I had a business so I could engage their services, but what I didn't know is that they do custom work for civilians, too, AND they have a gallery of fine art signs made by their in-house artists.
I walk past New Bohemia all the time and always admire all the signs they have in their window. I've also worked for a couple of shops that had signs made by New Bohemia, and I can say that their work is topnotch and painstakingly done. I find it so beautiful, so it pleased me greatly to learn about the fine art side of their business. Here are some of my favorite pieces, all one-of-a-kind originals by local artists:
- Ken Davis created this wonderful enamel and gold Cellar Door piece. Didn't Drew Barrymore once say that "cellar door" is the loveliest phrase in the English language?
- This charming Best Dressed sign is by Josh Luke — it would be so encouraging to get dressed under it everyday.
- This sign by Damon Styer pulls out all the stops: enamel, gold, glass, mirror, and lights. Festive!
- He also created this classic firehouse sign — the next best thing to living in an old converted brick firehouse.
- And I get a kick out of his "If there could be a darker sign, I would paint it" anti-sign. Love it!
As much as I would like to own any of those, I can't stop thinking about having a custom sign made. Small and simple of course, and even then I'm not sure if I could afford it, but I'm thinking of sending my ideas in to get a bid. If you were to have a hand-painted sign made, what would it say, and where would you hang it? And gold or no-gold? I would definitely do gold, all the way.
(All images from New Bohemia Signs, by the artists listed above.)
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I appreciate the Donnie Darko reference, but it's probably not something I would display in my home. I'm tired of having to read everyone's artwork. Typography is cool, but my eyes just need to land on something abstractly beautiful every now and then.
I met a guy a while back that did gold leafing on windows; mostly for address and once in a while for a store front. He said that it's so expensive and time consuming that it's become a lost art. Shame really because it is so pretty.
I like the signs but I too am getting tired of seeing large metal letters in peoples home. It just never made sense to me.
I live in a building built in 1927 and last fall a vandal put a rock through the transom window above our front door which had a beautiful painted address sign with the building name. It took a lot of searching, but I finally found a local sign painter who can duplicate the original for us. This post is so timely as I just finished reviewing the mock-up they provided and selected the final colors. Unfortunately we aren't able to afford gold leaf the same as the original. This is fast becoming a lost art. I cringed when other neighbors suggested we go with adhesive lettering! Thankfully I was able to make my case to repaint the original sign. Of course that meant I was tasked with finding someone to paint the sign.
I like this but can't help but think of the overdone props in a suburban bar & grille (i.e. - TGIF/Bennigans/Chilis.
A friend used to call it "bar in a box." You order the box of mass produced antiques and voila! you have bar.
i walk past New Bohemia all the time too. always love to see what new randomness they have hanging out in the windows. drives me nuts that their big sign still says "look, we're over here now!" (or something like that) when they've been in that same place for like a year if not longer.
How does this nearly lost hand-crafted artistry resemble anything to do with the crappy mass-produced "bar in a box"/TGIF or large metal letter aesthetic? Keep on topic people! These signs are gorgeous (and custom one-of-a-kind).
Hi, I'm from New Bohemia Signs, and I confess: I'm completely embarrassed by our storefront decor. Plans are/have been afoot to completely re-do it, but we've been so busy in the past year, that little action has been taken. Sorry so slack, Molly H! The storefront's not the only thing out of date: the "fine art" section of our website is still showing art from a show we produced almost 3 years ago... Granted, some of it is still available, but there's been lots made since, for a couple of subsequent shows, much of which is still, I have to admit, most easily seen on our shop's walls...
Anyway, much of this will change (I swear!) before year's end, with a refurbished storefront, and a full-court press in art production for an upcoming show we have scheduled at a gallery in LA--which will revolve around a theme of "changing neighborhoods", involving signs painted over other signs (not unlike our own current sign out front).
Regarding glass gilding becoming a "lost art": I used to feel that way about all of sign painting, but in the past few years, there's been a notable resurgence of interest. I've been teaching workshops in brush lettering, monthly since the start of the year, and students are agitating for gilding workshops now, too. So, I think you'll be able to find hand gilded transom addresses and window signs on offer, at least in the SF bay area, well into the coming century! That said, yes, they tend to run, roughly, double the price of a painted sign... Nonetheless, we gild about a transom a month, or thereabouts. Here's a window we gilded yesterday.
Also, you can find them in Boston: Josh Luke has opened his own shop, Best Dressed Signs, in Jamaica Plains, and though I think he may be keeping that particular sign, I'm sure he'd love to paint something else for you to get dressed under!
@Daemonsquire: I can't wait to see what you all do next- I especially love the sound of the signs-painted-on-other-signs! And gilding classes sound pretty irresistible. I might have to add them to my Christmas wish list along with diving lessons. Keep me updated!
Love this! My dad owned a sign business for 24 years, but got out of it. It's true, everybody wants it cheap & quickly done nowadays, so hand lettered and sandblasted wood signs are definitely rare..which is what my dad loves (and misses!). I wish he could get in on something like this!