 Things have moved on from these vinyl cut graphics of 1992! |
 Bee Signs were specialists in vehicle graphics even back in 1993 and working from the garage at the house too! |
 Marie Byrne with the wonderful range of colour vinyls for cut graphics in 1995! |
 Martin with his award in 2001! |
 Darina posing for magazine article in 2010! |
 Believe it or not this is a gate printed large format |
 BEE SIGNS 'Gerber Dimension 200x' Router range of 3D Graphics 2010! |
 Welcome to BEE SIGNS 2012! |
When Martin Byrne and his wife Marie started a small signage company in Tallaght, Dublin, in 1991 neither anticipated that BEE SIGNS would survive and thrive to celebrate its 21st birthday. Like all these stories the company started in the couple’s garage, moving on to a bigger Portacabin in their back garden before finally settling in its first proper industrial premises in the Cookstown Industrial Estate, Dublin.
Darina Byrne Gaynor, MD of the company, explained how BEE SIGNS has developed since then.
“I was in college when my dad said he was going to start up a company called B Signs,” she said. “As a project I decided to create a logo which ended up as BEE SIGNS. Both of them ended up putting the logo on the sides of their cars and we received plenty of advertising out of this.”
At the time the main production machine was the Gerber HS Plotter which was linked to a computer. Soon after, BEE SIGNS upgraded to a Gerber Edge which allowed printing of spot colours on to vinyl. A year later the machine was upgraded to print photos onto vinyl, something which was still relatively unusual in signage at the time.
As the years passed, BEE SIGNS concentrated on general signage, graphics, vechicle graphics, shop fronts and exhibition displays.
Darina added that the firm has had a long relationship with companies such as the Dublin Airport Authority, all Dublin’s county councils, the ESB and at one stage it was responsible for the State’s Spar shops.
But there is more to this family than meets the eye.
“In 2001 my father won ‘Tallaght Person of the Year’ in the business category,” she continued. “In 2010 I won the same award, so something must have brushed off from father to daughter.”
Darina finished her design course in 1992 and joined the company. As she said: “I wanted to get working!”
BEE SIGNS soon outgrew its initial premises in Cookstown and moved to its present location in Greenhill’s Business Park, Tallaght, Dublin.
Fast forward to today and Darina has been running the business since 1996.
“We have a router, two LF machines; a HP LaserJet 8000 and a ColorPainter 64S as well as full finishing facilities now,” she said. “The company has developed vast experience in the sign business over the years. We even do personalised canvas prints for people. A lot of our work today is flat panel signs for shop front or safety signs, A-frames, that type of thing.”
One of BEE SIGNS best customers at present is Textile Recycling Ltd which is a principal commercial sponsor of registered charity Breast Cancer Ireland.
“All the Breast Cancer clothes banks you see around the country in recycling centres have decals on them which we print,” added Darina.
After 21 years in business BEE SIGNS is going strong. It has a natural connection to its local community in Tallaght and the two awards – one to father, the second to his daughter – is a testament to this commitment.
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