NGS
PAINTERS OF THE FINEST ROMAN LETTERING IN THE WORLD
8-12 minute read
Ordering easy, your finest Roman lettering
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London’s Finest Lettering Masters
A passionate Page of Classic Roman ‘Serif’ Lettering.
The Sign Craft Master Designers of Roman Lettering
NGS
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Made in Rome – Perfected in London
SUFFOLK LODGE: NGS Bembo Roman Lettering
CHELSEA TEXTILES: NGS Garamond Roman Lettering
ABOUT NGS: Nick Garrett
Making these great Vintage Roman letters of ours, is down to a life-long passion for paint and craft. It’s a skill that relies strongly on wanting a life based around pure artistry and a business at times grown out of sheer determination. It hasn’t been easy, with Brexit, the Pandemic and global conflict causing us all additional pressure, but our incredible customers have always supported our shared goals of accomplishment, with an inexhaustable source of amazing inspiration.
TOUGH EARLY DAYS
I am very lucky to be born an artist, with natural portrait skills, and building a great lettering practice, with a fantastic client base, for the past 40 years. Much the the frustration of many of my school teachers, I knew the artist’s brush to be my life’s pathfinder, even as a very young child.
Growing up in the seventies and eighties, I was therefore supported by some and discouraged by many… which helped build my inner resilience and determination, neccessary to continue to paint and forge a professional artistic career. The tutorship of Clive Garland, Euan Uglow and Tony Eyton, at Camberwell art college was a cornerstone to that purpose.
Being alone on a ladder, crafting intensely demanding jobs alone, is mentally demanding to say the least. Over the years I have had support and trained as a professional counsellor [1] in order to stay in good shape and be helpful to others.
Creativity is at the heart of all human nature and yet is being stripped away unfairly from children [2] and seen as an unsupportable choice as a career and any kind of lifetime practice. This couldn’t be further from the truth as 75% of global businesses rely on the creative industry.
Artistry is needed today more than ever, to be nurtured and cherished… or at least respected and encouraged. Quite often on the streets as I work, people say to me this is a ‘dying art’. It is today simply because of the hours required to draw up each letter in Victorian complexity and aim it at an affordable pricepoint. However we have invested a huge amount of time crafting original sets of Roman lettering which now enable us to do that on a high level design and deliver scale. These pages inspire and prove that notion to be entirely misplaced as these wonderful letters live on. Enjoy the galleries accessed from the header and footer areas.
Building the MANTRA
It takes more than just dedication and hard work to become a reputable lettering master. It takes years of proven trading on top of the training and apprenticeship: essential to apply a vast range of typographic skills into a complete, guaranteed and authentic, modern world sign design practice. What counts in our book, is delivering top-notch work, with esteemed reliably, for decade after decade.
Above all we value constant practice, research, and a love of creativity, that evidences itself via the lettering styles we paint.
Reviews
Dream Team thanks you so much! It’s been a joy watching this come together.
Stella, Pragnell’s Jewellers UK
TEAM: Seraina and Nick
Seraina arrived at my studio (the ‘S’ NGS who joined in 2018).
She had all the flair and precision skills with the addition of a stable, technical knowledge from earlier screen printing apprenticeship in Switzerland – a rigorous training and work ethic that always shines through.
We responded to a quickly widening client demand and have combined our passion for deep tradition, with that all-important love of modern tech and styling, as illustrated in the Penhaligon panel below.
MANAGING ARCHIVES – DEVELOPING THEMES – Our approach has worked seamlessly across all our projects and developed an even keener eye for detail and unmatched quality of execution.
There’s a lot more to this ‘Roman-based’ story and it’s forming up a uniquw set of NGS ‘bench-top’ typeface designs – continually creating these new fonts from the gems we find across London and the world as we go.
We hope to share and enjoy the journey. Nick and Seraina
Above: NGS ‘Engravers’ Roman Lettering
NGS ‘Bodoni Parmense’ Roman Lettering
FROM THE DIARY: Laeving fine art and becoming a professional lettering artist…. it takes a few essential turns.
Firstly as a child I watched my Grandfather carve his London Romans and it stayed with me as a natural place to be and path to take.
Then one day, when I was 15, I found myself working as a tea boy in an antique store, a stall holder Jim asked me to restore his tiny kiosk shop sign in Herne Hill – Signwriting these true retro vintage letters for the first time, was like a new and startling world to me.
We make Roman Capitals by hand, naturally and no Ai.
Nick Garrett
Above:
Detail from recent research dip: Transcript of the magnificent ‘Memorial of the Homeland’ adjacent to the Trajan Market in Rome.
NGS Wakeley & Parvin Roman Lettering
Making Crafted Roman Letters since 1981
Ask for a Quote – for your Special Roman Lettering.
Just find something you like on our pages and whatsapp over your details to me here..
NGS Trajan Roman Lettering
Painting the County Hotel
Mindmapping: Truecut Trajan Roman Letters
When mind mapping takes place, one engages in active learning rather than passive transcription.
For example by utilizing digital media ‘vectors’ while designing (nodes, lines, and directional arrows), a spatial topology of your knowledgebase increases. Your brain automatically connects these mapped branches to physical space, forming a type of kinetic muscle memory. Working with vector graphics frequently utilises similar, highly accurate, brain to muscle spatial referencing and mapping.
We have a huge range of design-led Heritage London project experience.
NGS ‘William Sharpington’ Roman Font
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Our Bespoke Roman Letters
For Home
For Classically renowned businesses
What our clients think about us…
“It is a beautiful sign… so fine… impossible skills! Thank you Nick”
Dorian C. De Fawes.
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MAKING THESE FINE NGS ROMAN LETTERS
NGS
PAINTERS OF BASKERVILLE & VENETIAN ROMANS
LONDON TO MARGATE
FINE ROMAN LETTERING
Sometimes we work beyond London city walls… not too far from where the armies of Rome arrived along these shores is the Isle of Thanet – Margate.
FINE WALTON ST. CHELSEA SERIF LETTERS
Sharing the Passion of
Hand Painted Traditional Vintage Letters
Above: NGS ‘Trajan Roman Restored’ Bespoke letters restoring the commercial font into its 78AD ‘true-cut’ version.
Imperial Capitals by Nick Garrett.
ART GALLERY SIGN WRITING
SIGN LETTERING NEAR US. NEAR YOU: BLOOMSBURY
“These letters look so beautiful… even after 5 years… lovely”
Karen, Austin Desmond Fine Arts.
SIGN LETTERING NEAR US. NEAR YOU:
DEAL
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Next up: Across London Recently
Call me for a Quote
Wayfinding and Title Lettering on doors:
‘NGS Caslon type’ at the rooms of the City of London Club.
Likely the Most Traditional
and Distinguished Signs of London.
Allowing all things to give rise to goodness: perfection is always found following close behind.
The ‘go-to’ home of Classical painted letters. NGS.
Perfection is doing all the small things really well.
Ordering your lettering made simple
Whatsapp or email over your details to get started.
