Thomas Payne was a student at Edinburgh College of Art, who studied for a BA Honours plus a Masters in product design. Now he has a very successful business sign writing or sign painting on shop fronts all over the city.
His is only one business in a small community of signwriters in the city, but from his Instagram account – the well named Thomas Paints – it is easy to see he has created some of the best known.
Payne explained: “I was a graphic designer but I got a bit bored because it was computer based.
“So I wanted to do something tangible with my hands, otherwise I ended up just sitting at the computer clicking on the keyboard all day long. It is difficult for someone who likes to make things.”
He set up the business a few years ago. He said: “It was a hobby at first. My wife gave me paints and brushes and a book for Christmas about six years ago. Before we had kids I was able to practice in the evenings and at weekends. Then I got a friend to cut me 50 panels and I completed those 50 signs all loosely based on the them of positivity by the end of the year.
“Then I staged a sign writing exhibition called Signs of Appreciation at Gayfield Artists Studios, and I sold about 90% of those boards. At that point I had worked in a few design agencies. People started asking me to design for their shopfronts and now I think I have completed about 100 or more.”
The business has grown through Instagram as well as by word of mouth. (Thomas admits to being addicted to taking photos using ladders to get the very best shot for Instagram.)
As to the design process of his work, it can sometimes be a 50/50 project with the client but Thomas said that he also creates a lot of the artwork. He certainly does all the preparation for the job which involves very precise measuring. At other times the design has already been prepared and he is simply given what the customer wants and just needs to paint it.
Then the fun begins.
Thomas usually paints on a wooden surface which has been put up on the shop front, but he is equally adept at placing 24 carat gold leaf on glass – a process called mirror or glass gilding using stencils which he has custom made for each job.
When it is a painted sign, first Thomas transfers the artwork to the surface in chalk and then paints by hand. This part of the design has a fancy name – it is called “pouncing”.
He explained: “The signwriter uses a paper pattern where the artwork has been outlined with perforations (all done off site in advance). This is then stuck on with masking tape and chalk is applied through the perforations to give me an outline to work from.”
It all sounds so desperately easy, but then you have to imagine doing this while perching on a ladder at least six feet off the ground. But Thomas said that the preparation allowed him to do at least some of the work at a table, rather than at height.
Signwriting is different from sign painting and means that there is usually a big blank wall to be decorated. He said he is given instructions by the client of what they roughly want “and I just go for it”.
There are about four or five signwriters in Edinburgh, and Thomas said that they do all know each other, forming a specialist community of artists.
And the hard work, as well as his versatility, is paying off, as Thomas is about to begin a huge commission at Register House. He explained: “We are just about to do some work for the National Records of Scotland on Princes Street inside the Adam dome (which is five storeys high) with lots of gilding – lots of gold leaf there. There is huge scaffolding in there which has been in place for about five years now. I would say that I am a specialist in gilding.”
On other more normal jobs Thomas tries to finish a job in one day but said: “If I can’t I now have two assistants who can come along to help me out. It is a much more economical way of working than for me to be going back and forward.”
And that other pair of hands is a real necessity when you have a four or five metre wide paper pattern to put up on a shopfront.
5th Season Vintage
When we met him at the new Leith Walk shop, 5th Season Vintage, Thomas was using the technique of sign painting a retro style sign for the new vintage shop owned by Lauranne Bourgaux and Kieran Macrury.
The premises on Haddington Place are now a groovy throwback selling all kinds of unisex vintage clothing from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, focusing on quality timeless pieces, but also rare and unique pieces with a section for designer clothing. A lot of stock comes from Belgium, but other sources are top secret!
Until now Lauranne has sold everything online for the past four years and has done pop ups including one on George Street at egg & Co, but feels that now it is time to put down roots.
Lauranne told us: “It has always been my dream. My dad had his own business, a CD and DVD shop for 30 years in Belgium so kind of grew up behind the counter. I used to play shop rather than with Barbie dolls.
“It has been difficult with Brexit increasing shipping costs, but we will stock lots of lovely vintage clothing, including shoes and accessories, including cowboy boots.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
