Hello and thank you for listening to this latest episode of HIP Biz, the podcast where our roving business writer, Damien Pestell meets local business owners to find out how they find meaning in their work and what their journey has been to creating a business they love.

This week Damien met up with traditional signwriter and generally good bloke Charlie Nelson. Damien first met Charlie while he was up a ladder, since then he has learnt more about his life and been intrigued by the choices he has made.

Damien has a personal interest in Charlie’s line of work as both his dad and grandad were signwriters. For Damien stepping into his studio for the first time was like stepping back in time and he was looking forward to talking to him about the traditional craft which has seen a revival in recent years.

In this episode Damien finds out that Charlie has always been passionate about food and left university wanting to be a chef, inspired by the TV programme Masterchef. However, he quickly found he couldn’t cope with the unsociable hours and decided to head in a different direction.

Charlie talks about heading in the direction of design and landing a “great job” as a Graphic Designer for a food and drink magazine in London. How much he enjoyed it and why leaving to be a research analyst for more money was a mistake. But how it eventually turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons of his career.

Charlie tells Damien about the negative effects of working a job he didn’t enjoy and feeling an urgent need for change. Deciding to do something completely different and moving to live in Africa. Where he got a job at an eco lodge in Mozambique and how the experience gave him a completely different perspective on life. While there he experimented with wood-fired cooking which sparked a business idea.

He left Africa after a year and returned to the UK to start Fundi Pizza, a street food business with his brother in 2012. He describes how it was great fun and immediately successful. However as the business grew it became more complicated and less fun. He started to do some signwriting on the side.

Charlie tells Damien about the pandemic closing Fundi Pizza overnight and how they managed to sell the food business. Charlie then used furlough to establish himself as a signwriter, starting Fundi Signs.

Finally, Charlie talks about starting again and how it has meant learning again, something that he has missed as an adult. How he has always loved lettering and the enjoyment he gets from becoming more immersed in his craft.

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