If you've got any interest in type design or even if you use signs to know where you are and where you're going, Tristan Kerr is in your corner.

Graphic designer-turned-screen-printer-turned hand sign writer Tristan Kerr continues to refine and perfect what is a clear obsession around words.

Tristan’s new body of work for the Historia exhibition at Adelaide Town Hall recreates the historical hand-painted shop-fronts and sign-painted company slogans of Adelaide’s streetscape as seen in black and white photos. Brought to life in vivid colour and dazzling gold leaf, Tristan’s collection of signs evoke a warmth and pride in the names (and some faces) that have shaped and continue to shape this city.

Tristan says he wants to show Adelaideans how beautiful the streets looked here in the 19th and early 20th Century. For him it was as much about celebrating the names and brands that built the city but are no longer around.

Rundle Street – Rundle Mall