Sarah Linkus’ first official hand-lettering job – the catalyst for her business, Filthy Freehand (named for Linkus’ love of vulgar language) – was greeting cards for the tables at Bay View restaurant Odd Duck. Soon after, Hinterland in the Third Ward hired her to do some chalkboard signage. Word spread, and the sign-making gigs for this typographic (and calligraphic) dynamo grew more elaborate. The exterior moniker at Riverwest’s Company Brewing called for the particular skills of this architecture school grad, who’s still basking in the novelty of a hobby-cum-career. The ghost signs, those fading ads on old buildings around town, make Linkus wonder if “someday 100 years from now, maybe my stuff will still be up there, too.”
Photo by Kenny Yoo.
Down to the Letter
Typography artist Sarah Linkus’ emphatic signs elevate area bars and restaurants.
