Shane Durnford

Shane’s work was first featured in the July/ August 1999 issue of SignCraft and in many articles—and on several of our covers—after that. His brand of beautiful 3D signs are unique and powerfully appealing. After an eight-year hiatus from sign making, he is back at it again, with new energy for the work that has always been so satisfying to him.

Leaving the business: I closed my studio in 2009 and was out of sign work until just last year. I loved the work, but I had just sort of burned out on it. I needed a break. From there I started doing exclusively graphic design—mostly branding for small and medium-sized businesses—but not making any of the signs. I moved to Toronto and did a lot of work with breweries and vineyards, creating brands, developing websites and doing package design.

I really enjoyed that, but I missed the sign business. And I was designing signs for people, but they couldn’t find anyone to make them. I could see there was a market there.