An exhibition of OPEN & CLOSED signs from the collection of Mark Pawson
17th July - 8th September 2013
10am - 5pm Tuesday - Sunday
Carmelite Cafe at Bow Ats Trust, 181 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ.

In 2002 I bought a beautiful OPEN & CLOSED sign, which had evidently seen many years of use,
from a North London car boot sale. It's a practical object which says OPEN in multicoloured Perspex
letters on one side and CLOSED on the other side, it hangs from a short metal chain and
is easily turned around by hand. No instructions are necessary to tell you how to use it, it's an
intelligible useful item - but with a decorative element shown in the choice of typeface and colours used.

This discovery intrigued me, the sign was a ubiquitous everyday object, used daily in innumerable
shops and cafes, glanced at yet barely noticed or given closer attention, versions of which have existed,
relatively unchanged for many decades.

This vintage sign inspired me to create an OPEN & CLOSED sign necklace which was produced in
collaboration with award winning jewellery makers Tatty Devine. This tiny version was followed by a
limited edition of 60 large, 9 x 26 cm, Perspex OPEN & CLOSED signs - one of which has been in
use daily at the Carmelite Cafe since opening in 2012.

I kept my eyes peeled for OPEN & CLOSED signs and slowly a collection grew, comprised of signs
bought in the UK and USA, foreign language versions acquired on trips to Morocco, Japan and
Portugal, online purchases via eBay and etsy of new and used signs together with generous donations
from friends accustomed to asking 'What are you collecting at the moment Mark?'.

I have focused on manufactured objects, as opposed to one-offs or custom made signs, so there's no
laser-cut vinyl signs included and all the OPEN & CLOSED signs in the collection are straightforward
double-sided signs, there's no sliding levers, mechanical parts, flashing LEDs or long lists of
daily opening times.

An interesting development during the last few years is the appearance of new faux antique/
shabby chic OPEN & CLOSED signs, which are intended primarily as home decor, you can now buy
OPEN & CLOSED signs in Debenhams!

The exhibition features 54 signs - the majority of the collection, which hopefully will be added to as
new OPEN & CLOSED signs arrive during the run of the show.

Left Wall, L-R.
Group 1. These are new, American signs, bought from an Office Depot store in New York in 2006.
Group 2. The large one is possibly the oldest sign included, 1940s/50s ?, the lettering is hand drawn,
it's silkscreened, and probably made with hand cut stencils.
Group 3. New stock signs, all from the UK, apart from the 'Vans' sign, which is from the USA and
would have been distributed worldwide to stores stocking Vans shoes.

Back Wall, L-R.
Group 1. Two Moroccan signs in Arabic and French and a nice old Italian one.
Group 2. Gold & Black/Brown signs from the UK, the middle one is often seen in hairdressers.
Group 3. Yellow. Anadin and Autan would have been given to chemists shops.
Group 4. Green. A handpainted sign that looks like it belongs on a canal Barge, the Rizla sign uses
the colour scheme and typeface from their product packaging, it's orange on the CLOSED side.
Group 5. Ultra-Neutral in three colourways, made in Australia by Styrox.
Group 6. Brand New In Packet and almost certainly made in China

Right Wall, L-R.
Group 1. Japanese and bilingual Japanese and English, most of these were bought from the Tokyu
Hands department store/temple of consumerism.
Group 2. Metal and circular, wooden and cute.
Group 3. The Large Hello Kitty sign is from a 100 Yen shop in Kita Senju, Tokyo, the attached label
helpfully explains:-
'OPEN, used for a sign to indicate that a person establishes a store and opens for business or the
doors of the store are open. Today, too, sweet Hello Kitty welcomes customers.',
'CLOSED, used for a sign to indicate that a person goes out of business and closes a store, or gets
the day's work done and closes the doors of the store. Hello Kitty is looking forward to your dropping
in at her store again.'
The larger of the 2 needlepoint signs could have been done from a kit, reverse side shows the soup
bowl with the lid on.
Group 4. The older, probably 1970's tyre and zip signs, display strong, clever and imaginative use of
product images. The recent instant coffee and beer signs use product images.
Group 5. (in the alcove) Just a few of the new genre of faux antique/shabby chic OPEN & CLOSED
signs, there's plenty more where these came from. The central one has been cut out from a sheet of
hardboard, had the edge details routed, been spraypainted, printed twice on both sides and then had
the edges 'distressed'.

exhibitions main menu