At Custom Sign Lab (CSL), creativity is the key to delivering unique, eye-catching projects. Photos courtesy Custom Sign Lab
By Carly McHugh
At Custom Sign Lab (CSL) in Beamsville, Ont., creativity is the key to delivering unique, eye-catching projects.
Founded by Clayton Letourneau, an artist and second-generation graphic designer and signmaker, the shop’s dedicated team of experts embrace the latest technology and architectural signage trends to turn their clients’ dreams into reality.
Sign Media Canada spoke with Letourneau about the history of Custom Sign Lab, as well as its recent projects and specialties, and his plans for the shop’s future.
Sign Media Canada (SMC): What is the history of the shop?
Clayton Letourneau (CL): Custom Sign Lab is a place where signage, design, and print professionals bring brand images to life. The shop focuses on custom and experiential fabrication for tourism, hospitality, retail, and municipal clients, with a specialization in architectural signage. However, the beginning of CSL was much more modest. The shop first opened in 2011, in a 41.8-m2 (450-sf) home studio, as Vinylocity Imaging—a combination of vinyl and velocity—with a focus on vehicle graphics and traditional signmaking. As the business evolved, it became apparent by late 2015 that it needed a rebranding which spoke more to the custom nature of the creative sign building that was becoming the new focus. In 2016, the current brand was released, and the business has been growing ever since.
The shop’s growing team operates out of a newly upsized 334.4-m2 (3,600-sf) facility in Belleville, Ont. It is 30 per cent larger than their previous space.
SMC: What makes the company unique?
CL: Custom Sign Lab has a very clear set of core values we use to execute all of our work and interactions. They are creativity, quality, honesty, communication, being prepared, enhancing community, and finishing what we start. We feel it’s unique to be a smaller shop with such a clear direction and purpose, which filters down through every team member and is embodied in every project we complete. We also pride ourselves on fabricating creative, complex, experience-based projects that may not otherwise be realized in the hands of other sign shops. We know what we do best, which is custom fabrication—with an emphasis on custom.
SMC: How large is the facility?
CL: Our growing team operates out of a newly upsized 334.4-m2 (3,600-sf) facility, which is 30 per cent larger than the shop we moved into in 2019. The team is comprised of seven core members—which more than doubles our 2021 roster—and a handful of dedicated subcontractors. In addition to management, we have two fabricators, a print shop operator and co-ordinator, a registered graphic designer, and a dedicated project manager. CSL is poised to continue growing throughout 2024, with our sights set on exponential year-over-year expansion.
SMC: What type of signage does the shop primarily install?
CL: Our work still has quite a bit of diversity due to the unique needs of our clients. The most commonly created signs are facades and architecturally matched monuments. We use a 3D-carving computer numerical control (CNC) router, paired with custom-sculpted 3D artwork (aided by a 3D scanner), to accurately match unique or historic bricks and foundations. This helps bring cohesion to structures and signs, with the appearance of otherwise inaccessible or unavailable materials.
SMC: What type of projects have you been working on recently?
CL: Recently, we’ve been focused on developing relationships with architectural and custom millwork companies, so we’ve been executing a lot of interior corporate-style signs and dimensional feature walls, as part of larger overall renovations and rejuvenation projects. Paired with a high volume of monument signs, these are keeping our team very busy.
