Sign painter is keeping the traditional craft in the public eye, Yu Ran reports.

Sign painting artist Zhao Duo has a unique and distinctive style for his customers in Shanghai. (YAO YAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

When Zhao Duo walks on a street, the words he sees on signboards or shop windows are not simply a combination of letters but a glimpse into the fonts used. He only needs one glance to infer how the 26 letters of the English alphabet should look like based on a particular style.

Born in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, Zhao is one of the few professional sign painters in Shanghai. He says his interest stemmed from childhood when he would admire the beautiful letters on his father's vinyl records. He also saw his mother use a Chinese typesetter for documents and he could recognize some characters backward.

The personalized signboards or window designs allow consumers to have an immersive consumption experience as the hand-painted letters convey a different feeling.

Zhao Duo, sign painter

"I prefer to be described as a sign painter without a certain style. My role is more like a messenger who helps deliver a client's message by painting letters," says Zhao, founder of Huaihai Signs, which is named after the road where he once lived.

The 35-year-old's journey to this niche industry began in 2011, one year after he graduated with a degree in design from Macao Polytechnic University, when his friend Tuba Mok requested that he paint signs on the window of a new clothing shop. To Zhao's surprise, it took him almost one week to paint 10 letters, "Mr. Stockman", on the main window.

"I saw this as a failure, and it spurred me to do more research on sign painting. I later found out that sign painting requires special materials and techniques. That was how I started on the path to becoming a professional sign painter," says Zhao.

In 2013, Zhao boarded a plane for Tokyo to kick off the next phase of his journey in painting signs. During the two years before that flight, he spent more than four hours every night learning about sign painting and painting on acrylic plates while working as a full-time graphics designer.

"I learned there was a vibrant sign-painting culture in Japan and I wanted to see the hand-painted signs along the streets there with my own eyes," he says.

Sign painting artist Zhao Duo has a unique and distinctive style for his customers in Shanghai. (YAO YAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Zhao then met Hiro "Wildman" Ishii, who is widely considered a master craftsman of customized lettering in Japan. During his time in the country, Zhao studied Japanese and practiced his sign-painting skills during the week while taking private lessons with Ishii on the weekends.

Zhao later launched Good Fellows Signs in Tokyo along with local sign painter Koji Anzai. In 2019, while hosting a sign-painting workshop in Shanghai as a tutor, Zhao was heartened to see a large group of Chinese expressing a keen interest in the craft. This experience, he says, convinced him to return to his homeland to start a business.

That same year, Zhao opened Huaihai Signs in the living room of his friend Yao Yao, who is also the co-founder of the studio. The first job they received was from the Imuse Barber Shop that sported a vintage style and was very popular with young people.

Today, Zhao owns a 50-square-meter studio with a small yard in Shanghai's Xuhui district where he spends most of his time designing, drafting and painting signs. He says those who hire his services are usually shop owners seeking to offer experiential consumption services to customers.

"The personalized signboards or window designs allow consumers to have an immersive consumption experience as the hand-painted letters convey a different feeling," says Zhao.

In the past three years, business has been brisk despite Zhao not spending money on promoting his studio. Most painting orders have come from friends who are fascinated with the craftsmanship. Among the friends-turned customers is Tian Zuowei, owner of three coffee shops in Shanghai. He met Zhao in 2020 when he was planning the redecoration of his first cafe, Griffin Coffee.

Sign painting artist Zhao Duo has a unique and distinctive style for his customers in Shanghai. (YAO YAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

"Humans created the world with their bare hands. This is also the most accurate way to present creativity. So, every hand-painted signboard is expressing human vitality with letterings, lines and colors," says Tian, who is a fan of vintage culture and traditional craftsmanship.

"Zhao is the only sign painter who can express my ideas on the signboard," says Tian. "He seems to be calm but full of energy. He has a vast universe in his mind that is full of fantastic thoughts."

Zhao shares a similar point of view when it comes to recognizing each sign as "a unique piece of artwork that should not be replicated".

"It's a natural trend that shop owners choose to paint signs in a creative way to catch public attention. Unfortunately, some shops are over-decorated purely to follow the trend. Therefore, I've tried to avoid painting signs with the same style for two different shops," he says.

Zhao says one of the best compliments he has received is that "his work is indistinguishable from machine-generated prints".

"I think the claim that hand-painted signs should be rough in nature and have obvious defects is an excuse for the lack of practice and skills," says Zhao.

Earlier this year, the artist held his first exhibition in Shanghai to showcase all the signs and other works he has created over the past three years.

Looking ahead, Zhao is eager to incorporate more Chinese characters into his sign painting.

"My ideas originate from instances in my life, the books I've read, the photos I've seen and the signboards I've come across," says Zhao, adding that the beauty of Chinese characters can be found in the book Shanghai Typography.

His main focus now is to paint Chinese characters on shop signs in a modern manner.