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Interiors Addict

Retro style station signs for your wall by Johnny Spiller

Whether they’re a signage, retro, travel, transport or typography fan, these hand painted train station sign artworks would make a great, personalised Christmas gift for someone and there’s still just time to get your order in.

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Artist Johnny Spiller’s idea stemmed from a drawing he did looking across the platforms of Sydney’s Central Station and passing the signs there every day for five years.

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Johnny’s drawing

“I really wanted to make a replica CENTRAL sign for my wall at home. Once I did, I knew how striking and unique it looked, and how cool it would be to let people customise them with a destination close to their heart – station or no station! I showed a few people and they loved the idea. The bold monochrome look also fits well with the black and white theme of my drawings and works with any decor.”

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Johnny knew he wanted his signs to be high quality and command attention. Each one is handmade in his Sydney studio with the signs and letters individually painted so they look just like the originals that inspired him. “It’s time consuming as each laser cut letter needs to be primed and carefully finished,” he says. “There is also a great deal of care in selecting the letter height for optimum spacing on the sign, and the hardest part – making sure the letters are fixed straight on the final sign!”

Each sign comes packed into a sturdy, hand-branded box for safe delivery. They can be hung on the wall or displayed free-standing on furniture or a shelf.

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If you’re looking for a special Christmas, wedding, birthday or housewarming gift, look no further. You saw them first on Interiors Addict!

Large signs are 210mm high x 980mm long ($349) and the small signs ($159) are 140mm high x 640mm long.

Order online.

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Art Homewares Interviews

A behind the scenes look at the work of sign maker TJ Guzzardi

It was at age 15 that TJ Guzzardi began his journey to becoming a sign maker, taking his bass guitar to be pinstriped and being inspired to give it a go himself.

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Photo Credit: Andrew Watson

“I saw a guy doing pinstripe designs on my double bass,” says TJ. “And while I watched him, I thought that’d be pretty cool to learn to do and so I decided to give it a try.” From there, he bought some brushes and started painting. Thanks to his dad owning a hot rod shop, TJ’s skills continued to grow, being commissioned by his clients to paint their cars.

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TJ’s Melbourne workshop. Photo Credit: Andrew Watson

Yet it wasn’t until five years later that TJ really found his groove, when he took the jump from pinstriping to lettering. “I was asked to do a tattoo shop sign for a friend and I had never done any lettering before,” he explains. “I was always scared to give it a go but we designed it together and I painted it. Through that, I left some business cards and from there all the work I’ve done has slowly built up to a full-time job. Now I have jobs booked through to September which is really cool.”

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Since those initial days, the self-taught sign maker has gone far, literally, with TJ having travelled around Australia painting signs, created a couple of signs for Mexican soft drink company, Jarritos, as well as being commissioned by Harley Davidson. “They invited me to create a helmet and paint one for an art show which they ended up buying and displaying in their Sydney head office,” says TJ. “They gave me a brand new helmet to do whatever I liked with, and I got to be very creative and make it look like it was 40 years old and all distressed.”

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Harley Davidson helmet. Photo: Andrew Watson

A lover of everything 1950s, all his signs have a definite vintage vibe, something else which harks back to his childhood: “When I was a kid, my parents dressed very 50s,” explains TJ. “My dad was very Grease like, he had the slicked back hair and the leather jacket. I was kind of just brought up in that culture and have taken that and then combined it with my own feel.”

Painting on salvaged materials — anything from a toilet seat to an old trunk — TJ is not afraid to paint on any surface: “If the paint sticks to something, I’ll paint on it!” His sign making process is very delicate and time-consuming and is something that a select few will get to experience during the Meet Your Makers Studio, a new feature at the upcoming Life Instyle trade fair in Melbourne.

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TJ’s Melbourne workshop. Photo Credit: Andrew Watson

Featuring artists and designers, including TJ, these live workshops will give visitors a unique opportunity to see how these creators bring their designs to life. “I’ll be painting one of my signs on the day, either an old sign for a café or just a decorative sign,” explains TJ. “I thought it’d be something cool to be involved in, a place where I could show my work to a different audience, compared to those who I normally do my work for.”

Life Instyle Melbourne is being held at the Royal Exhibition Building from 31 July to 3 August 2014. TJ’s workshop is on Thursday 31 July from 10-11.30am. More information on this trade-only event can be found here.

Check out TJ’s blog.

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Interviews

Vintage signage inspires custom made artworks

Vanessa Hile has been making custom-made artworks for the last two years and it’s the challenge of turning her clients’ ideas into reality, that keeps her coming back for more: “It’s like someone telling you they’d like the chorus line of Yellow Submarine by the Beatles in a picture but also a cane toad. It might not mean anything to anyone but the client but that’s what makes this so unique.”

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It’s too Early

The idea to start creating custom artworks, came after Vanessa created a piece for her husband, entitled It’s too Early. Inspired by their backpacking trip to Colorado, it not only acted as a reminder of the good times but was also the catalyst for friends asking for their own unique artistic mementos. Now, the rest is history.

Vanessa has a very strong aesthetic with a prominent emphasis on typography, as she says: “New fonts are like fashion to me.” Vintage advertising and signage are synonymous with her look, mimicking the old advertising style where images were hand drawn rather than using photographs.

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It was the trip to Colorado and the surrounding states of the US and Mexico that saw her art shift from realism painting (she has been painting for 20 years!) to her current style of signage art. “My travels through the US and Mexico left me with photo albums of painted signs, paint peeled walls and old relics of neon signage. Mexicans all tend to be experienced signwriters and will paint their restaurant menus on the side of their shop fronts with great flair. The mad colour combinations and gimmicky icons in composition with the type styles used, can spur on great ideas.”

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Too Easy

But her trip wasn’t the first time Vanessa was inspired by typography, having worked as a graphic designer for 17 years and studying signwriting in Newcastle. She was also part of the founding Real Living magazine team, where she was art director and a finalist in the 2006 MPA awards for Designer of the Year.

Her graphic design skills remain hugely relevant, with Vanessa sketching her artwork ideas on the computer after her initial consultation with clients. “I use my computer to work up type relationships and try different colour combinations just as I would with my graphic design work. But once I know where I’m going with it, I work up the lettering with chalk and get into it.”

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The Royal Hawaiian

While Vanessa has now created many artworks in her signage art style, her favourite is The Royal Hawaiian (above), a piece she made for a close girlfriend to remember their trip to Hawaii back in 2003. “We stayed at this hotel for just the one night and went down to the hotel bar after nightfall. We drank Mai Tais talking to some US Marines. It was an unplanned, amazing night. We talk about how we wish we could do that again. It just has that feel good effect on me.”

It really sums up all of Vanessa’s pieces. While they look good, it is their ability to evoke emotion, to create a feeling of nostalgia and sentiment, that truly make them one of a kind.

 For more information.

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Interiors Addict

The simplicity of wire and a pop of colour make for storage and decor delights

Yes, The Woodsfolk have done it again with their latest wire wares in store. Love me a bit of good looking storage!

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The magazine racks above are $35. So simple yet so effective: wire and pops of colour. Not only do they look good (especially on that dark wall), they’ll help you get organised and tidy! The square crates below are $75 and could be used on their side or on the floor, even mounted on a wall. I think I need some for my office!

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And what about this wall candy? The arrow ($30 & $45), heart ($90) and lover ($154) signs are so cool! I love the simplicity of them.