At the corner of Thomas Street and Meath Street, the ground floor unit has the kind of insert-name-here signage contributing to the scrappy feel of shopfronts on both streets: printed plastic boards with splashy graphics, as little relationship to the building as possible. It’s not pretty or interesting, and worse, it’s a chain and a business preying on desperation.
Right above it, though, there’s directions to The Carpet Mills, which is located in an adjoining premises around the corner. I love two things about this, the first being that they put a whole sentence in where ‘The Carpet Mills’ alone might have done the job, with a (strangely oversized) comma for good measure. It feels like the same period of business language as ads with “Why not try ACME today” as their persuasion and engagement, “Just around the corner”, in case you’re about to be put off your carpet quest by the distance. The second thing is the arrow stretching around the corners – the gawky arrowhead trailing back to the block of fletching.
It’s handpainted and grubby enough that it feels like something ephemeral that’s managed to hold on far longer than expected.
