Please sign the dotted line...

A signature, something completely personal to each individual, can be the most beautiful script. Every time I go to the bank, I have a problem, my signature never matches with the one they have on file. I opened the account when I was 18 years old, and while my handwriting may (unfortunately) still be the same, my signature is ever changing. I really can't stick to one signature, and they just seem to get uglier and uglier. So, I've started researching signatures on the net with the aim of finding a style that I can learn and keep. I've come across some lovely ones, most of them old as you may imagine. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that in the 1800s they never signed with cheap ol' biro pens. Or perhaps that not everyone was fortunate enough to be educated, only those of a high social status and thus their class is depicted in their writing...or maybe I'm just a commitment phobe and feel I have yet to find my signi-mate. Or perhaps I'm just a lazy signer...who knows. The above image with Lincoln's signature from 1843, and the ones below are from a petition signed in 1737 and mormon prophets signatures from a Salamader society site - random I know!


Anyhoo...I stumbled across these gorgeous signature vases (below) from Droog Design by Dutch designer Frank Tjepkema. You send in a copy of your signature and they make you a personalized signature vase made from nylon. How lush is that? I'm sure that even the ugliest or most boring signatures on paper could look pretty spectacular in 3D. The extruded shapes of signatures are really beautiful, and the oversized scale makes it take on a life of it's own.


Is handwriting something you just develop or something that can be taught to become second nature? I work with a woman who writes EVERYTHING backwards and upside down and her handwriting is beautiful. She says she's always written like that, since she was a child. It was not taught to her, thats just how she saw letters. Have you heard of any other strange cases like this or do you have a friend who has a great handwriting. I'd like to hear about it if you do.