Hand-painted Holidays with Noble Signs
In the process of transforming a dying craft into a thriving industry, we’ve spent the last 21 years in business proving the power of hand paint. But in conversation with Mac Pohanka and David Barnett, founders of Noble Signs, we have nothing to prove. They get it.
“We call it unseen care,” said David during our tour of their workshop. “A person might not think about how a sign was made, but you can feel that it’s something special and that the people behind the business care.”
Pictured (left to right): Mac Pohanka and David Barnett, co-founders of Noble Signs
The Noble Signs workshop is full of antique signage, as well as the wet paint of their new projects. As collectors, they preserve the character of New York through the curation and care for its antique signs. These hang from the ceiling, lean on the walls, and flash in neon embellishment.
There is enough history and curiosity for the business to begin and end here, but instead they’ve taken the dual approach of collection and creation. One sign at a time, they are returning this ‘unseen care’ to the streets of New York by applying techniques and learnings from vintage signs to the production of new ones. Similar to our workshop, paint and practice sheets add color and texture to every surface.
Similar to the story of Colossal, their business began between friends with a shared dream. What started with bar signage has grown into a living museum of New York history and a functional workshop fabricating new landmarks for the city, like Veselka’s neon sign in Williamsburg. The workshop has the energy of constant momentum — no two projects are alike. “We always design with context for both location and application, and we create our lettering artwork by hand with an approach that is always considering the final product. So, every application has it’s own logic,” explains David. “The important thing is not to design something and expect it to work across all formats — sometimes brand uniformity needs to take a backseat in service of beautiful signage.”
A trove of salvaged treasures is assembled above the workshop into a signage museum, honoring the creativity and personalization that made this city so unique. “We started saving signs without a plan, out of emotional necessity,” says David. “It wasn’t until 2019 that I had the idea of starting a museum, and it took about 5 more years after that before we had the non-profit in place and started opening up our studio.” Their collection of over 150 full-size signs is available to view through weekly tours, organized by Open House New York.
“I feel lucky to be a commercial artist working in a craft that is defined by it’s humanity.”
It’s an emotional experience moving through this space. Every sign represents a dream realized, a family storefront, and offering to the city. Looking ahead, David muses, “The goal is for it to be more than just a collection of cool signs. We want to pair these amazing objects with context — oral histories and interviews with business owners and makers, ephemera and additional bits of history salvaged from the shops. The hope is to tell the full story of how craft signage exemplifies the personal character that makes New York City so special, codify the New York signage and lettering vernacular, and be the stewards of carrying that unique visual language into the present and future.”
This year, they contributed their custom lettering to our Colossal holiday gift, making for a label of love on our traditional wine bottle. It is a natural partnership, defined by mutual respect and shared purpose. As the world is leaning more heavily on digital conveniences, the evident effort of the work done by Noble Signs, Colossal, and beyond feels ever more important. “I feel lucky to be a commercial artist working in a craft that is defined by it’s humanity,” agrees David. “We are really selling the indiviual touch in our work and with this looming threat of AI, I feel some comfort in knowing that we’ve carved out a niche where our work wears it’s humanity so proudly.”
As 2025 comes to a close, we can look back at what we’ve accomplished with pride. It is with mission-motivated people like our friends at Noble Signs, a team of talented colleagues, and the connections of our supportive partners that we move resolutely into another year — designing our future with humanity at the forefront, and creating a world crafted with care.
