Nostalgia with hand-painted signs

(Quang Ngai Newspaper) - In the last decades of the last century, hand-painted signs were very popular. Later, printing technology and advertising materials developed strongly, causing the hand-painted sign profession to gradually disappear. But somewhere, on the streets of the city, hand-painted signs still exist, evoking old memories.

In the past, shop owners often hired people to draw signs advertising their brand names to attract people's attention when the shop first opened or to highlight the shop's brand. Hand-painted signs are durable, can withstand the sun and rain and stand the test of time, so they were chosen by many people in the past.

The hand-painted signboard drawn by Mr. Diep Thanh more than 30 years ago is still in use. Photo: Thien Di

Mr. Duong Van Hoc (87 years old), in Nghia Dien commune (Tu Nghia) is a traditional medicine practitioner. After liberation, he practiced at a small shop called Nhon Hoa Duong on Nguyen Thuy street, Quang Nghia town (now Quang Ngai city). Although the shop is small, it has a beautiful and prominent hand-painted sign. "The shop is my family's lifelong livelihood, so making a sign is very important. I considered very carefully before ordering a sign to hang in front of the door. At that time, I had to go around and ask several sign painters to find a satisfactory painter," Mr. Hoc said. It was not until 1992 that the old sign was damaged, so he found someone to repaint a new sign and hung it in front of house number 157 Nguyen Thuy for more than 30 years.

The story of shops choosing and hiring artists to draw their signs dates back to long before the Renaissance. The sign painting profession originated in Europe and America, flourishing in the late 19th century with the increasing demand for brand design from brands. Long before the advent of computers and the advertising industry, the sign painting profession was always popular. According to documents on the history of Vietnamese design, the works of Vietnamese sign painters were greatly influenced by French house painters, and gradually changed, creating many more fonts with a strong Vietnamese imprint.

Mr. Diep Thanh (68 years old), in Quang Phu ward (Quang Ngai city) once painted many signs for shops in Quang Ngai city. He said, when I was young, I had a talent for beautiful handwriting, so many people came to me to paint signs. Although I had a main job, I also painted signs to satisfy my passion. I learned fonts such as flat letters, ornate letters... from seniors who painted signs and created more to create unique features for the signs I drew. The work of making handmade signs requires the worker to have many skills, being both a designer, an artist, and a constructor. Therefore, each sign is like a work of art, bearing the mark and style of the land where the people who painted them live.

One of the few hand-painted signs still existing in Quang Ngai City. Photo: Thien Di

No fancy tin boxes, no flashing colored lights, or letters cut out of mica... the signs hanging in stores in the 80s and 90s of the last century were just corrugated iron sheets reinforced with iron frames. On them were large, clear brand names, diverse fonts but not confusing. The colors stood out. The content was simple with the store name, business line, address and a few eye-catching images. The signs were carefully crafted by the artist's hand, creating very unique features for each store. "Every now and then, when I pass by a store that still has a sign I drew, I still feel very happy, remembering the golden age of hand-drawn signs...", Mr. Thanh expressed.

Nowadays, despite modern technology, along with the "fast, neat, cheap" business mindset of most businesses, there are still many people who want to find hand-painted signs. "I still like the old sign that was drawn more than 25 years ago, so even though the sign has faded over the years, I still don't replace it with a new one. Several times, I also looked for someone to repaint the new sign, but now the painter from the past has long since changed jobs...", said Ms. Lam Thi Xuan Bup, owner of Nguyet Anh Tailor Shop on Quang Trung Street (Quang Ngai City).

Currently, in Quang Ngai City, there are still a few signs, such as the sign in front of Mr. Hoc's and Ms. Bup's shops, still existing, simple and rustic next to more modern and prominent advertising signs...

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