Lawson Mapp has quite literally proved that his whole career and business is a "sign of the times".

For the former Mayor of Hamilton, who runs Mapp Signs Ltd. based in North Road, Pembroke, celebrated 40 years in business on December 27.

And during that time he has seen everything from developing his own sign painting, engraving, lettering and gold leaf service to the advent of computerised technology.

His projects have included the signage for big projects such as the Fairmont Southampton Princess hotel in 1974 and the exterior of Bermuda College before it opened, to golf leaf painting behind the altar at St. Paul's Church in Paget and lettering for the Lord's prayer and creed in St. Peter's Church in St. George's.

In fact, his skills range farther, from making engraved office signs for top CEOs and senior executives to intricate lettering for some of the main golf and tennis tournaments.

Having left school at the age of 16, Mr. Mapp worked as a furniture maker for several years, during which he got into sign painting, going on to become an apprentice sign maker for Harry Green and studying at the London College of Printing, before returning to Bermuda to work as a sign writer on vehicles, including number plates and tare loads, for Holmes, Williams and then setting up his own business in 1968 and has never looked back since.

"When I was about 16, I was always fascinated with sign writing," he said. "I was amazed how you took a brush and made it do whatever you wanted by simple wrist movements.

"One day I went in this shop run by Harry Green — he was the most professional sign writer on the Island. I said to him 'I am very much interested in learning sign writing' and he said, 'Come around and I'll teach you'.

"I had a job during the day and them I would go around to his place in the evenings and he gave me some brushes and a key to the shop.

"I would practise from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day and he was reviewing my work and must have said 'this young buck has got some promise' and he asked me to come and work for him on Saturdays."

Mr. Mapp started off learning his trade by filling in the outlines of the lettering done by Mr. Green on the Bermuda Bakery trucks, getting paid 10 shillings per day for his work.

It was not long before Mr. Green realised his talents and offered him a full-time job. Mr. Mapp went on to work for the company for 12 years, before leaving for a three-year stay in the UK to get his qualification at the London School of Printing, where he learnt all of the various different typefaces. He even befriended famous satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, among others, and came back to the Island to pursue his career.

"I have done almost 180 degrees, starting out the business with just four employees in Court Street in 1968 and then moving to North Street five years ago," said Mr. Mapp.

"It is really a fascinating business because there is an old adage that says: 'Business without a sign is a sign of no business'."

Among his specialities are 22-carat golf leaf painting, with which he decorated the Corporation of Hamilton crests on City Hall and which is also used on Bermuda wedding cakes, and putting signs on the traditional Bermuda cedar wood and Virginia cedar variety.

He is also a master of operating his Hermes engraving machine and Gerber lettering machine, which he acquired from Manchester in Connecticut in 1984 and which is still going strong.

"What is interesting is how the technology has changed and has affected people like myself from the 'old school', who still paint by brush, but luckily there is still some call for that," he said.

"Adapting to the new computer technology has been the biggest challenge, although there is still a niche to what I do.

"Sadly all of the youngsters that used to work with me have thrown their brushes away, so if the electricity goes off they cannot make signs, but I can keep going by candlelight because I have my brushes."

Mr. Mapp wants to create his own typeface so that the Mapp legacy can live on for future generations of Bermudian sign painters and writers.

"Just like Eric Gill masterminded the typeface of Gill Sans Serif for the London Underground, I would love to come up with a Mapp typeface so that the Mapp legacy would live on so that young sign writers coming up could then look it up in a book of typefaces."