Painted signs for forty stalls under one roof

Corbel Street Market is a covered hall with forty stalls, run by a traders’ committee. Every stall had made its own sign, in every material from vinyl to neon, and visitors could not see the length of the hall for the clutter.

The committee wanted the hall to look like one market without making every stall look the same.

A shared frame

Every stall now has the same fascia board, painted in the market colour, with the trader’s name in one of two sizes depending on its length. Below the name there is a strip for what the stall sells, in plain words: Fish, Cheese, Bread and coffee. Traders choose the wording; the frame sets the size and position.

The lettering is a painted alphabet Tomas drew for the market. It has two weights and no ornaments, so any competent sign painter can reproduce it.

Trained painters

Two local sign painters did all forty stalls. They spent two days in the studio painting sample boards before the first stall, and worked from a printed guide that shows every letter with its stroke order. The hall stayed open throughout; the painters did five stalls a week, early in the morning.

Maps at every door

Each of the six entrances has a panel with a map of the hall, the opening hours and a strip for this week’s events. The strips slide out, so the market manager can change them without calling us.