Micro-Sized Business Taking Industry Lead with Sustainable Sign Making

Aug. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Tiny Southern California sign company Starr Studios has found itself as the industry leader in offering sustainable signage options to customers nationwide. Starr Studios’ work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, NBC Television, The Food Network, the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2009 International Tour of the band Gogol Bordello, as well as industry publications such as Digital Output Magazine and This Old House. Owner and Operator Sean Starr is also a freelance contributor to SignCraft Magazine.

Big Bear Lake, California, August 11, 2010  – Starr Studios uses only sustainable practices in their sign-making while maintaining the highest standards of quality craftsmanship. They use low VOC paints and offer a variety of sustainable sign substrates including no-formaldehyde wood composite panels as well as bamboo panels, traditional ply-woods and a variety of reclaimed wooden planks and windows. This micro-sized small business has found itself taking the industry lead in eco friendly, sustainable sign-making.

According to owner and operator Sean Starr, “When I first started Starr Studios in San Francisco in 2006 I had no idea that our hand-painted signs would end up being ordered by companies all over the United States and other parts of the world. The one thing we kept hearing was that our sustainable processes of using low voc paints on wood was important to our customers’ environmental policies (which led to working with groups like NBC, Ocean Spray and Sony Music in New York). With recent changes we have made to how we operate, we are now considered the standard for sustainable sign making in the sign industry and get calls and emails from other sign shops seeking advice on making their shops more eco friendly.”

In early 2010 Starr Studios was relocated to the Southern California mountain community of Big Bear Lake, which has allowed the business to make a move to becoming a fully sustainable sign company.

Starr says “The move allowed us to make some changes like running our shop on solar power, dropping some of the plastic and vinyl product lines and to expand in the types of woods and paints we use for our sign panels. We are also enjoying a slower pace with no commute”, (their living space and shop space are on the same property), “and are starting a community garden next door to our shop space. We are also doing little things like printing our marketing materials on recycled paper with soy inks and recycling more in our shop.”

Learn more at www.starrstudios.org

Starr concludes, “We realize that in the grand scheme of things, the contributions of one micro-sized sign shop adds up to very little, but we hope to inspire other shops to make the move away from petroleum based vinyls and plastics and to push their creative limits to make better looking signs while using sustainable processes.”

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We use only sustainable practices in our sign making while maintaining the highest standards of quality craftsmanship. We use low VOC paints that exceed the rigorous upcoming CALGreen regulations and offer a variety of sustainable sign substrates.