We talked to illustrator and artist Borin Van Look about his most amazing website and here’s what he said:
The Ipswich Historic Lettering Website
Having moved to Ipswich from Leiston in 1979, I was establishing myself as a freelance illustrator and had a Victorian house to worry about. It took quite a time to engage in any way with the town of Ipswich itself and its story. Walking and cycling around, questions arose, but I didn’t know how to answer them.
Gradually, it became clear to me that Ipswich in Suffolk is of national, if not global, importance. This is not an overstatement. The Roman and particularly the Anglo-Saxon history of Ipswich only became known to us in the archaeological discoveries by Keith Wade, Tom Loader and others from SCC’s Suffolk Archaeological Service in the 1970s and 80s in particular. This work shone a light into the Dark Ages of Gippeswyk (spellings vary) for the first time.
At the same time, being interested in period advertising and signs on buildings, I began to store up in my brain some prime examples. On walking back from an exploration of the Gipping behind Bramford Road, we passed ‘Elliott Street Bakery, 1907’ in Elliott Street.
While queuing in the car at the lights in Northgate Street outside the Great White Horse (you could drive southwards on that road at the time) I spotted ‘Symonds for Kodaks’ high up on a chimney stack.
I embarked on a project to photograph examples and, when you specifically seek out such things, it’s amazing what you find. All of them add to the story of the town’s development from an ancient port to a major industrial town and commercial centre. Showing some of the photographs around it was suggested that they would make a good book. Somebody else disagreed and said that it would be much better to make a website. Of course, I knew nothing about how to do the latter, but I gradually started to learn. Simon Knott of Simon’s Suffolk Churches (and more) was particularly helpful and encouraging.
The use of a website immediately appealed as a web resource and as a vehicle for contributions and corrections from browsers on the internet. In June 2003, I launched the Ipswich Historic Lettering website and set about developing the links and reading list sections. Slowly but surely people began to find me and to say how much they liked the site. Contributed images and anecdotes followed from all over the world (particularly from the former ‘British colonies’) and the website developed as a local history web resource. One contributor describes it as a mosaic of Ipswich history. This means that several indexes and, more recently, a rather good – and free-of-charge – search engine on the site help in finding specific places and names.
It’s grown ‘like topsy’ to the extent that I often use the search engine to find things which I know I’ve added and need to find again. The site includes trade, street, architectural and church signs. From drain covers to named bricks from local brickyards to public artworks, another gallery grew: places outside Ipswich. Wherever I happen to be, I can’t resist taking photographs of period lettering. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough hours in the day to add them all to the website. Newcastle in 2019 was a revelation, but I still have a folder with 248 images waiting to be processed and researched before they are added.
There are still new things to find in and around Ipswich. Please do take a look at my site here
“Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)
Submitted to Ipswich.love by website owner Borin Van Loon. Take a look and see if you can find the image we used in the banner to this article!
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