Open Day: 21 June 2025

Discover the forgotten skills of hand painted lettering and fairground art at Joby Carter’s free workshop open day.
Joby creates lettering designs by hand using traditional techniques which have been passed down through the generations: skills that can be traced back to Victorian times. He is one of the world’s leading experts in signwriting, fancy lettering and fairground art and is passionate about showcasing these skills to a wider audience through his books, courses and open days. Many people are familiar with him as the owner of Carters Steam Fair, the world’s largest travelling vintage funfair which toured the UK until 2022. Joby is also one of the mentors for the third series of popular BBC programme ‘Make it at Market’ which aired recently.

The open day is a chance to ask questions about signwriting and traditional decorative skills or to simply watch, enjoy and take photos of these traditional decorative skills in action. All ages are welcome to attend – no need to be a signwriter or lettering artist.

What can you see and do?

The walls of the workshop are decorated with hundreds of examples of signwriting through the decades which Joby has collected and displayed alongside his own vintage inspired signwriting designs, many of which are available to purchase on the day.
Demonstrations will take place throughout the day from 10-4pm.
The signwriting supply shop which sells specialist enamel paint, brushes, Joby’s books and other signwriting materials will be open throughout the open day. Visitors can also browse the signwriting gift section which includes fine art prints of Joby’s lettering designs, fridge magnets, jigsaws and the hand painted alphabet letters from Joby’s book All the Fonts of the Fair.

Location:

Unit 18 Rockhaven Business Centre, Gravenchon Way, Street, BA16 0HW
Open 10-4pm, free entry for all.

Register now for free and you’ll receive updates about the event including Joby’s free online Signwriting Secrets guide.

You can read about previous open days and events on Joby carter’s blog.