Episode 17: Charlie Nelson from Fundi Signs

Hello and thank you for listening to this latest episode of Be Your Business, the podcast where I meet local business owners to find out what they have learnt in their career and why they do what they do! This week I was excited to meet up with traditional signwriter and generally good bloke Charlie Nelson. I first met Charlie while he was up a ladder, since then I have bumped into him on a regular basis and slowly learnt more about his life and been intrigued by the choices he has made. I must confess I have a personal interest in Charlie’s line of work as both my dad and grandad were signwriters. Stepping into his studio for the first time was like stepping back in time for me. I was looking forward to talking to him about the traditional craft which has seen a revival in recent years. In this episode I find out that Charlie has always been passionate about food and left university wanting to be a chef, inspired by the TV programme Masterchef and celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal. However, he quickly found he couldn’t cope with the unsociable hours and headed in a different direction. We talk about him 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 turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons of his career. He tells me about feeling the urgent need for change and moving to Mozambique to work at an eco lodge, an experience that gave him a completely different perspective on life. It was there that he experimented with wood fired cooking which sparked a business idea. On his return to the UK he started Fundi Pizza, a street food business with his brother. He describes how it was great fun and successful to begin with, but as it matured became more complicated and serious. Charlie tells me about making signs for his food business and then making signs for other food businesses, a thread he picked up after selling their food business at the start of the pandemic, using his contacts in the food industry to start his sign writing business, Fundi Signs. Finally he tells me that starting again has meant learning again, something that he has missed as an adult. How he has always loved lettering and the enjoyment he has got from becoming more immersed in his craft.