Four years ago…. I remember it like it was yesterday, in mid-October 2016, I received a mysterious phone call asking me to take pictures of several spatial advertisements in the Tri-City. My first thought was - "I should take pictures of billboards and store advertisements… It makes no sense". But on the other hand, as a photographer, I always value gaining photographic experience in undiscovered areas. After the first meeting with the boss of the Pretende company, I knew that they would not be just some hanging advertisements, but creative, modern and elegant, unique and eye-catching spatial advertisements. Not only are there spatial letters decorating various entrances, but also LED illuminated letters, exclusive golden letters or futuristic inscriptions made of wooden and stainless steel letters. However, none of them delight me as much as neon ads!

This is how my four-year-long adventure with various neon signs all over Poland began. And all of them came from one studio located between Gdańsk and Sopot - Pretende.pl. And there is no neon sign among them to repeat.

Most of you might say that you would have gotten bored with taking another neon photo a long time ago (after all, 4 years is a long time). However, let me tell you that each new order is even more interesting than the previous one. It is related, among other things, to the development of neon ads over the past few years. During this time, the forms that neon advertisements took have changed completely. We used to be able to watch simple neon signs above the entrance to a shop or a fitting room. Now, neon signs have taken on completely new shapes of company logos, inscriptions several meters long on the walls of office buildings (inside and outside), people and objects. I would never have expected that neon lights would become such a universal creative and unique form of advertising. Over the years, they have found their way to the windows of branded salons. They decorated the walls of restaurants and cafes, and now they advertise the largest music festivals. The material from which they are made (I cannot reveal too many details) is so plastic that you can create almost any shape from it, and the availability of their colours is limited only by our imagination.

Interestingly, I see neon lights decorating the walls of… our apartments more and more often. Because there is no better way to create the atmosphere of a modern industrial interior than to order an original, glowing neon, which, illuminated in the evening, attracts the attention of all household members and guests. In addition, neon is a great gift idea! Each of us would like his apartment to be unique but in the style in which we feel best. Thus, the neon hanging on the wall will suit any interior - you just need to think what it is supposed to represent, choose its colour and the right place ...

During these few years of cooperation, I have visited over 150 places in our country where there are advertisements made by Pretende. Most of them have neon lights. There are still many places ahead of me that I have not managed to visit with my camera yet, including foreign ones, because recently the Pretende company has also sent neon signs abroad. One of them was, among others, at the opening of the first LPP store in London, which was hosted by the well-known top model Kate Moss.

And let me tell you that in my work as a Pretende photographer there is no time for boredom. Each new advertisement, especially the neon one, brings delight, a large dose of curiosity and the desire to have your own neon on the bedroom wall. But this is only after the next renovation ... although the idea for shape and colour is already here!

We produced two external neon signs, which were installed in Warsaw at Krucza Street. One of them is a two-sided circular semaphore, tinted glass. The neon lights effectively illuminate the entrance to the premises, the more so as it is another neon sign on Krucza Street.

This time, a Ukrainian restaurant from Sopot ordered external signage in the form of a light box from our company. I recommend Ukrainian cuisine to everyone :)
Our project - Light cassette, silver dibond with spatial letters encourages you to enter the restaurant :)

Polished gold letters, galvanized stainless steel letters. Exclusive decorative tin letters ideal for prestigious and high-standard places. We can make letters from brass, copper and nickel-plated sheet. Stainless steel spatial letters illuminated from the back (hallo effect).

Some of our customers ask for gold letters made of stainless steel with an inclined side, these are so-called prismatic letters. These letters require double work time, putting such a letter together is an artistic handicraft.

Vintage Metal – Marquee letters

Our classic Letters with bulbs are very eye-catching. A letter filled with light bulbs - plug and that's it. Create your favourite words, phrases or monograms. The letters are available in the vintage version, the letters can be finished in any colour. You can also combine more letters from the supplied cable. The letters have bulbs of the size E14. Letters with light bulbs perfectly decorate every home and also serve as a sign of your company or a shop for commercial purposes.

Coloured lampshades for light bulbs add charm to the whole letter. The lampshades have a large selection of colours, which allows for various configurations of filling the letter. Moreover, they can be adapted to the colour of the logo. The letters in your logo can be filled with light bulbs and then coloured lampshades can be screwed onto them.

We invite you to watch a short commercial spot in which we present some of the projects from our offer.

The video spot presents some of our projects of particular categories, such as: Neon signs - illuminated letters - letters with light bulbs – “textil displays” textile light boxes - Stainless steel letters - metal letters - gold sheet letters. We encourage you to watch a quick report of our daily work. We create light advertisements every day, the advertisements which we improve every day.

At the request of one of the largest development companies in Poland, Echo Investment, we have realized the largest neon sign in northern Poland. Hand-bent neon glass creates the inscription "I'm from Gdańsk", which emphasizes the local character of the new investment - the Tryton Business House office building. The new neon light is turquoise. The width of the neon sign is 12 meters and its height is 4 meters - it is the largest neon in northern Poland. Many European cities have neon lights for which they are famous. Gdańsk deserves its new neon symbol. The thickness of the hand-bent neon tube is 18 mm.

We invite you to watch a short promotional film presenting the process of creating neon:

We produced letters with light bulbs for the show of Edyta Górniak's latest collection for NAOKO. Hand-made letters with light bulbs, produced in our Gdańsk studio, form the word "FASHION". The use of white colour gave the effect of elegance and style, further emphasizing the character of the show and the presented collection.

Our classic Letters with bulbs are eye-catching. A letter filled with light bulbs, a plug and that's it! Create your favourite words, phrases or monograms, fully personalized according to your expectations. Letters are available in the vintage version and they can be finished in any colour. You can also combine more letters from the supplied cable. The letters have bulbs of various sizes and colours. Letters with light bulbs perfectly decorate any home and studio, they can be used as a company or shop signage for commercial purposes.

One of our recent projects was the implementation of lighting decorations for the newly established Rocotillo restaurant, located in the largest business and office centre in the Tri-City.

For the purposes of the arrangement, we made a coffer with retro-style light bulbs and an aquamarine neon beautifully matching the interesting interior design of the restaurant.

We made spatial letters for the newly opened beauty salon "Secret Avenue" in Gdańsk. Internal markings, spatial letters in the effect of plexiglass, mirror blend in very well with the interior of the premises. Thanks to the laser cutting technology, we have obtained a perfectly smooth edge of the letter. The application of the letters was carried out using a previously prepared template. Quotes and logos stuck to the wall have brought a unique glamour effect.

Thanks to the arrangement and production of our letters, the whole place inside took on an elegant appearance, which was noticed by Joanna Krupa herself.