BRINGING ART TO LIFE Jay Gordon and his team at Blackout Designs and Metalworks have lit up San Marcos, creating custom signs for businesses throughout the city and the region.
Jay’s team created the ery sign for Hays Co. BBQ.
BUSINESS FEATURE
From left: The business is run by Marketing Director Blaze Gordon and founder Jay Gordon. PHOTOS BY ZARA FLORES COMMUNITY IMPACT
Blackout Signs and Metalworks Business lighting up big cities; making unique shops stand out
I n the small community of Maxwell in Caldwell County lies a two-story warehouse surrounded by trees and decked out in neon lights from the oor to the ceiling, where Blackout Signs and Metalworks lives. Jay Gordon founded Blackout Signs and Met- alworks 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 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 like BY ZARA FLORES
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 nec- essary, but we can also keep it more small and intimate,” Gordon said. Ultimately, the hands-on business is the culmi- nation 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.”
One of Jay’s local favorite signs is for Zelick’s Icehouse in San Marcos.
This “classic” arrow sign is for Classic Tattoo.
Blackout Signs and Metalworks 512-738-6715 www.blackoutsigns.com Hours: by appointment only
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM/ADVERTISE (866) 989-6808
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SAN MARCOS BUDA KYLE EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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