Jay Gordon founded Blackout Signs and Metalworks in 2008, working out of his backyard in San Marcos until making the move to Maxwell in 2014, where he and his son Blaze now operate.
There, in the warehouse, Gordon and his small staff fuse together engineering, electricity and art to create one-of-a-kind signs for businesses throughout Central Texas, including San Marcos staples, such as Zelick’s Icehouse and the LBJ Museum as well as Austin icons, such as Stubb’s Bar-B-Q and Deep Eddy Vodka.
“It’s such a gift, an honor, a privilege to work with these smaller mom-and-pop businesses. It’s not like Walmart or Samsung. They’ve really hustled to save up their money, and they have a vision,” Gordon said.
While their focus is on smaller businesses, they have also made signs for bigger organizations, such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Some signs require more creativity and artistry as the visions are sometimes simply ideas; sometimes the visions are fully formed logos, Gordon said, such as the Lollapalooza logo. Regardless, they take into account the environment the sign is going into to help guide the design.
With only a handful of employees, which has dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is still able to turn around a sign in about six to eight weeks.
“We can scale up and get more people if necessary, but we can also keep it more small and intimate,” Gordon said.
Ultimately, the hands-on business is the culmination of art and craftsmanship on a larger scale than other traditional art forms with signs weighing hundreds of pounds.
“The best part of it, for me, is I get to drive out into the county and use all these amazing tools and have people trust me to interpret their vision and build something that didn’t exist before,” Gordon said. “Very rarely do we do two or three or 10 of something."
- 512-738-6715
- www.blackoutsigns.com
- Hours: by appointment only
