Painting the town
Meet the old-fashioned signmaker decorating Prospect Lefferts Gardens
BY BEN VERDE
Talk about making your
mark!
A Prospect Lefferts Gardens
craftsman is lending local
mom-and-pop shops an
old-timey feel, devising handpainted
signs that would feel
right at home hanging over a
19th-century doorway.
“It feels like I’m a smalltown
sign painter 100 years
ago,” said Travis Fitzsimmons.
A Lincoln Avenue resident,
Fitzsimmons makes his
living as a signmaker, handcrafting
individualized markers,
and operating by word of
mouth, as shopkeepers swear
by the marketing value of
his artisanal calligraphy, he
said.
“There’s more feeling
when you actually have a
human being doing brush
strokes,” said Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons claims he fell
into sign making — a profession
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he claims is sorely underrepresented
in New York
City — after his wife’s Crown
Heights clothing stores, Rosebud
Vintage and Peacock
Room, closed around 2015.
The vendor had crafted the
marquee over his wife’s shop,
and soon other business owners
were asking to borrow
his skills. Before long he was
“cursed into entrepreneurship,”
he said.
While the craftsman
wouldn’t divulge what he
charges for his handmade
signs, he said the process can
take anywhere from a few
days to several weeks, with
projects ranging from small
sidewalk signs, to windows
paintings and large awnings,
with prices varying in part.
What’s consistent is Fitzsimmons
hands-on approach
to designing his products,
working with customers to
distill their needs into the
perfect sign for their business
— not their ego.
“Simplicity is key,” he said.
“They don’t need their whole
story up there, they just need
you to know that you can go
in there and get a taco.”
Business owners say the
craftsmanship displayed in
Fitzsimmons’ signs makes
a big difference to shoppers,
and that factory-made, vinyl
alternatives don’t come bring
the same level of character to
their storefronts.
“We like hand-painted
signs, because it has its own
personality,” said Brenda
Castellanos, who owns Ix
and Antojitos del Patron and
said the brightly colored signage
has increased her foot
traffi c.
And with plenty of new
shops crowding into the
neighborhood, Fitzsimmons
says you’re likely to see more
of his simple yet effective
work popping up in the coming
years.
“I feel like the past few
months I’ve been living just
off this neighborhood,” he
said. “It’s more special to me
doing stuff here.”
Travis Fitzsimmons with some of his handiwork on Antojitos del Patron.
Photo by Ben Verde
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