Meeting the ghost sign man

Dr Stefan Schutt at the Lewis & Skinner exhibition

Character, circumstance and chance: those were the three “c’s” that I was taught about in Ulverstone High School so many years ago (or should I say decades ago?). They refer to the three essential elements of Shakespearean tragedy.

But they are also relevant to the story behind the exhibition I attended today: the Lewis and Skinner (an old Melbourne signwriting company) papers and recreation of an artisan hand painted sign on the side of an old building in Yarraville (now Lady Moustache Café).

The circumstances of the exhibition might include the interest people have in vintage signs and artefacts. The chance which led to the exhibition was indeed the totally chance finding of Lewis and Skinner receipts and papers at a demolition site. And the character who found these papers and salvaged as many as he could was Dr Stefan Schutt. He not only found them but with the help of colleagues created an amazing website showing the location of many of these jobs dating back to the thirties, forties and fifties.

 

 

So it was great to meet him there today. In his talk, he told us enthusiastically of how he had visited the inner Western locations to which the invoices and painting instructions refer and either left an individually addressed postcard explaining about the sign that had once been there, or he had talked to bemused milk bar owners who may not have had any idea of what he was talking about, but soon warmed to the history of their place.

The large, sparkling new Lewis and Skinner sign just freshly painted on the side of the Yarraville café drew a lot of attention. Stefan and the artisan sign writer Tony said how delighted they had been with the widespread interest shown by former and current signwriters. Some  had come from far and wide to see the exhibition and the painting of the sign, done over the course of four days for two hours each day. They were all still passionate about this skill that takes years to acquire and which is a proud tradition. Stefan reminded us of the “skills of the working class” that have been neglected by history and which disappear through mechanisation, computerisation and globalisation.

 

I also really enjoyed talking to Lisa, who was another driving force behind the exhibition. She had fond recollections of her childhood in Brunswick, where her Italian parents had worked in the clothing industry. Her father had been a tailor, and had often taken her to his workplaces. She loved the factory floor, the machines and the workers and the mix of cultures. She recalled his rounds to visit the “outworkers”. Her father would give them surplus or scrap material for their own use and the women might give them lemons or baked produce. It was a relationship that exceeded just that of agent and employee.

I really hope Lisa, Stefan and the signwriters can come to Brunswick and help stimulate discussion of how to preserve the signs and buildings related to the clothing and textile industry that once thrived here.