In the studio with… Mia Warner

This week Mia Warner let us into the fascinating world of sign writing. Letter heads, as sign writers are known, are a small (but growing) community with around 200 professionals in the UK.

Painting everything from hand, Mia learnt her trade via an apprenticeship and now works on projects big and small; from painting house numbers to creating the fantastical illustrations for the Jo Malone Christmas Campaign and working on murals for film sets, no brief or day is the same when it comes to sign writing.

We sat down with Mia to discuss finding a community within your work, improving your craft and why the motto amongst sign writers is IOAFS - it’s only a fucking sign.

How did you get into sign painting?

I studied Graphic Design in Brighton and I became obsessed with letters and fonts, my tutor suggested I look into a guy called Joby Carter who’s party of Carters Steam (the world’s largest travelling funfair). He was fascinated by the paintwork on the rides and learnt the tradition from master sign painter, Stan Wilkinson. He now runs signwriting workshops as well as the fair, so I researched him and then found a course through uni with Dapper Signs.

So is sign writing a craft you have to be taught?

Yes! The techniques are passed on from sign writer to sign writer and most people learn via apprenticeships. It nearly died out in the 70s thanks to vinyl’s but it’s having a resurgence again now.

Is it a competitive industry?

For the most part it’s very gracious as a community. It was super male dominated but that’s changing. The letter heads were a group of guys that got together in 60s America who hadn’t done proper apprenticeships and they started painting together and sharing tips and jobs. There are incredible people out there and it could be easy to get egotistical but there’s this motto sign writers have - IOAFS - it’s only a fucking sign, which basically means don’t get too big for your boots and also don’t stress if something’s not working.

Is there an opportunity to be creative and expressive or do you have to stick to a client brief?

We talk about this a lot because usually we are referred to as tradespeople because essentially we are applying a sign, same as a painter or decorator. But it depends on the job and how much design work you do; we could just figure out the way to apply it like a craftsperson but then someone might come to us saying we love your style, go wild and then we are more like artists. We bridge a bit of gap between artists and craftsmen.

How do you make yourself stand out?

You learn 4 basic styles - block, script, casual and roman - but then there are lots of ways that you can change them and that’s where individuality comes in. Sometimes one of the younger guys will do something and then you’ll see other people do that which isn’t a problem as long as you’re not ripping someone of.

How would you describe your style?

A lot of traditional sign writers do refuse to work with existing fonts and so have a very recognisable style. I didn’t think I did as quite a lot of my work is really varied and uses existing stuff. I actually prefer the painting to the design but I’ve been told recently my style is starting to come though. It’s quite minimal, not a lot of loud colours or designs. It’s quite French actually, Paris doesn’t allow shit signage so everything is elegant and classy with beautiful pared down muted colour.

What projects have you got coming up?

I’m working at the National History Museum but I don’t know how much I can say about that and I’m also working on a film set but I also can’t say what it is! I love helping local small business get their identity - that’s the real honour of this job!

Photography by Helena Dolby and 93ft, taken at Marmadukes, Ecclesall Rd, Sheffield.