TD 1
A few weeks ago, whilst renovating a premises at
21 Mount Street, workers uncovered the old signage of J. O’Grady & Co. The premises has been occupied since the 1830s. Over one hundred years ago it was a boot and drapery warehouse. During the 1916 Uprising number 22 was used by the IRA. The brutal fighting is remembered as The Battle Of Mount Street. The O’Grady store received over £30 in compensation for damages to the shop during the fighting. Just scraping back the layers to the original wood finish reveals a trajectory into a city in turmoil over one hundred years ago. The sign remains intact. The new owners of the premises, Coffee Angels, have decided to keep the original sign. Signwriting is often spoken about as a vanishing trade. Syd Bluett, a self-taught signwriter, reckons that in 2010 there were six signwriters operating in Dublin, and they were, in the main, struggling. Today, Syd believes that there are about thirty-five signwriters operating, all of whom are making a good living from the craft. It would appear that there is an increasing demand for the work. New technologies have brought about change in the way shopfronts are presented. Plastic signage and computerised graphic design have played their part in providing a cheaper product. However, there has always been a place for a signwriter’s craft. There is a quality in the human touch that can’t be replicated by a design done on a computer. We are all familiar with the ubiquitous signs from multinationals that reduce the landscape of cities to a common denominator. Signwriters have continued to carve their unique expression giving identity to places that become part of everyday life. In the past, it took seven years for a signwriter to serve his apprenticeship. It was the pinnacle of the painting and decorating trade. There was a decline in the number of master craftsmen after the two World Wars. The standard of apprenticeships diminished and were replaced by shorter City & Guilds courses. These days, the people operating within the trade are largely self-taught, as there is no course for signwriters at present. Colm O’Connor was one of the last people to take the two-year City & Guilds course. A few years ago, he provided an eight-month signwriting course for students held in Ballyfermot. However, there is no course available at present. Colm O’Connor describes signwriting as a marker of taste. He hopes the work on the fascia board draws the customer into the establishment. However, Colm is reluctant to describe his work as art. He views it as 16