Askilled form of sign-making that was once used for advertising and marketing purposes to light up hairdressers, restaurants, barbers, and other businesses, neon signage is now more commonly found in the form of one-off statement pieces of art or amongst businesses that are willing to pay more for ‘the real deal’. The gas found in neon signage was first discovered in 1898 when chemists Sir William Ramsey and Morris Travers found out that neon occurs naturally in our atmosphere. The scientists went on to test this gas with other gases and substances and whilst the first tube containing neon was created for scientific research, it was Georges Claude who invented the neon sign as we know it today. Claude discovered that neon gases, when combined with other gases sealed in a tube and fed with electrical charges, could produce a range of bright and mesmerising lights. Following this discovery, Claude showed his discovery to the public in Paris in 1910 and later went on to patent the neon lighting tube for commercialisation in 1915. Life-long Skill Inspired by old fairground rides, Carousel Lights was founded over a decade ago and specialises in decorative lighting and signage using fairground lights and real glass neon. Founded by Ben Reynolds and his sister Rebecca Reynolds, the company has since grown to offer a full custom signage offering to some of the world’s most well-known brands. Whilst the company’s product offering has expanded considerably, traditional glass neon is still an important part of its product range. “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,” Ben Reynolds explains. “It takes many years to become proficient and the degree of skill is evident when you watch the process first-hand.” For Carousel Lights, the largest proportion of signage by far comes from LEDs and neon demand now comes predominately from the art world or offices and studios that still want the real thing. “We absolutely LOVE real glass neon and are doing all we can to ensure it lives on,” Reynolds continues. “Once the skills have gone then it’ll be very difficult to restart making it as you can only learn it from someone showing you as opposed to textbook learning.” Ben and Rebecca recently won the Great British Entrepreneur Award for Creativity. Supported by Rishi Sunak, the awards are known as ‘The Grammy’s of Entrepreneurship’ by Dragons Den’s Steven Bartlett. The founders now judge these awards and in doing this, they are constantly promoTHE REAL DEAL The magic neon creates remains undampened despite this form of signage having been around for over 100 years. We explore what it is that makes neon so special as well as look at campaigns around the misrepresentation of the name itself NEON SIGNAGE 37 Issue 250 - December 2023 / January 2024 email: news@signlink.co.uk ◄ Electro Signs has made many large traditional neon signs for the front canopy of Selfridges in Oxford Street, London over the years
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