Jack Hollands

  

Our visiting lecturer today was sign writer Jack Hollands. Having graduated from UCA with a degree in Graphic Design, Hollands has since dedicated his career to learning the craft of sign writing. He achieved this undertaking internships with gold leaf specialist Dave Smith and Italy based sign writer Nick Garrett.

Hollands informed us in the talk that he prefers creating all of his signage freehand, explaining that working with stencils and masking tape can often give harsh edges that leave the type feeling less organic. He’s also spent time creating his own specific ratio of gelatine to water to ensure that the gold leaf he uses has a clear reflective quality, advancing from a classically murky finish.

I found the talk interesting, if not overly engaging. In my mind Hollands didn’t seem to be particularly impassioned by what he was talking about, but then I’m not sure if he was a little nervous. He was particularly damning of his experience with his degree. The thing that resonated the most with me though, was a quote from designer Eric Gill that “you have to strive for mechanical perfection, but know that you’re never going to get there.”

Images sourced from www.signwritingjack.com