Back in the days, bespoke typefaces adorned the facades of shops, restaurants, and cafes. Born in Europe, the craft of hand-lettered sign painting and gold leaf lettering took America by storm. In 2011, a local sign writer from Bristol introduced Ged Palmer to the craft. After apprenticing in California, Ged opened his own workshop in Bethnal Green, a neighbourhood of London’s East End, reviving a local tradition of sign writing. 

Luminor Sign Co. is named after a workshop pictured in ‘High Street’, a book first published in 1938, combining the lithographic art of Eric Ravilious with architectural commentary from J. M. Richards. The original Luminor stood on the corner of Old Street and City Road, where today we find a coffee shop. Only 2,000 copies of ‘High Street’ were printed before the printing plates were destroyed during the Blitzkrieg. Today, the book is one of the most collectible books from this period. 

Ged’s studiooffers a variety of crafts, from showcard writing to gold leaf lettering, large-scale murals, heritage preservation, brand design, custom typography, and calligraphy. Everything at Luminor Sign Co. is done with an eye for detail, expert knowledge of the craft, and respect of the tradition – a rarity in our electric age. Ged’s team works internationally and is happy to receive commissions for new projects. 

Luminor Sign Co.
http://www.luminorsignco.com

Adrian Kreutz
Political Theorist and writer. Based in London, Adrian teaches philosophy and politics at the University of Oxford, UK.