38 www.signlink.co.uk Issue 250 - December 2023 / January 2024 1952 who, having worked in the mines in Wales, hated working in the dark. When the family relocated to London, Bracey started work at Power Neon where he fell in love with the craft. When Electro Signs was founded, the majority of Bracey's work was on seaside amusement arcades. With the fairground rides travelling around the country most of the year, the winter months often saw a lot of neon needing to be remade and repaired. Bracey also worked on retail shops and high-level signage which featured neon on built-up letters with translucent Perspex faces. Whilst neon was still only really being used for advertising, in the 1970s Bracey’s son Chris Bracey joined the company and as an artist saw that neon could be used as an art medium as well. This led to the design of creative signage for Soho London where he resigned and renamed around 90% of the sex establishments. Chris Bracey sadly passed away in 2014 however he was widely recognised by the art world for his work and was known as the ‘King of Neon’ due to his vast knowledge and amazing designs. Today, Linda Bracey is the owner and director of Electro Signs and the London-based Gods Own Junkyard museum, known as "a place where neon never dies”. Linda Bracey explains that over the past seven decades, Electro Signs has run a number of neon glass workshops with one of the most exciting being in the late 1980s which involved setting up an entire neon workshop on an unused airfield in Dominican Republic where two of the company’s glass benders made all the neon on set for the film Havana with Robert Redford. Currently, Electro Signs has one neon bender who learnt his skill from working with other glass shops and Linda Bracey says there are many times when the company has had to use numerous glass shops to produce the neon for large projects to meet the deadlines. “Neon bending is a cottage industry usually learnt from father to son, so the days of having the likes of Masonlite in Kent where they would run large training courses appear to have sadly gone,” she says. Whilst Electro Signs produces all types of signage, the company is known for specialising in neon particularly for projects that require fast turnarounds. The company also has a large portfolio of neon signage that it hires out to production companies for film and TV with these industries often requiring real neon due to LED signage proving to be difficult to film or photograph. Long gone are the days of neon being used as the signage of choice for widespread marketing and branding and this can be felt within Electro Signs with the company having seen an increase in orders for bespoke neon pieces for people to have in their homes. These, Linda Bracey says, are enjoyable to make as they are unique and often feature very interesting designs. Quizzed on what her favourite sign has been to make, she says: “Goodness, there are so many favourite traditional neon signs we have made over the years. The Raymond Revue Bar sign in Brewer Street is a good example of an original 1950s neon sign that we completely renovated. “We removed the whole sign, remade all Our independent glass blowers have been working with neon all of their lives and they trained either from their father or in one of the large glass shops that have now closed ting the benefits of real neon to business owners and entrepreneurs in the UK. The company also produces videos showing how neon is made and promotes these online as well as liaising regularly with the team at the Heritage Crafts Association to find out other ways to support the cause. Producing traditional neon has seen Carousel Lights complete a whole host of creative and innovative projects including the iconic ‘Electra Cinema’ sign for Soho House in Shoreditch. The company was also asked by New Balance to produce what is believed to be the UK’s largest-ever neon shoe for the brand’s flagship window on Oxford Street to launch the 99H trainer. Other jobs have seen neon produced for the West End, BBC dramas, nightclubs, hotels, and the company even produced two large neon crosses for the American rapper Pusha T’s tour, which could be seen flying above the stage featuring the words: ‘Sin Will Find You Out’. Singer Sophie Ellis-Bexter also sought out Carousel Lights to bring a tattoo on her arm to life. For this, ruby red neon formed the word ‘family’ with a stainless steel ribbon around the heart and clear fairground lights around the perimeter. Another company that counts traditional neon glass bending amongst its signage offering is Sygns (sygns.com). Founded by Felix Hartz, the company in fact started out selling only custom-made glass neon, however like Carousel Lights, now also offers a range of other signage solutions but says it is the only company that ships neon Europe-wide and offers plug and play solutions. Around 25% of Sygns' orders are still glass neon and the company has developed technology, such as what it describes as the world’s most advanced signage and neon configurators, in order to enable customers to personalise their signage without any technical knowledge required. Reflecting on the fact that a quarter of its orders are still glass neon, Hartz says: “This is a remarkable amount, considering the new options in the market. Customers still appreciate the expressiveness of glass neon and the industrial and special look of the glass tubes, which never cease to impress. “Our mission is to enable individual expression through beautifully crafted mediums, which always need to be tailored to the individual customer’s use case and objective.” Glass Bending on Set A company with its history steeped in neon is Electro Signs which has been trading as a family business for over 70 years. The company was founded by Dick Bracey in ▼ Dick Bracey, founder of Electro Signs pictured in the 1960s after founding the business in 1952 NEON SIGNAGE
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