Coops Custom Signage

Coops Custom Signage previously operated from a family farm outside Warkworth, but owner Glenn Cooper reckoned the end of the Covid lockdown was the perfect opportunity to become more visible.

The business is now located in a giant shed at 1 Anderson Road, Matakana, and continues to emblazon cars, trucks, buildings and sandwich boards with graphics of all kinds.

Glenn says clients typically approach him with a preferred theme and Coops dreams up the designs that fit with that motif. Coops then installs the artwork to provide a consistent look across a business’s premises and vehicles.

Glenn says the right kind of art – whether 2D or 3D – gives a business an enormous boost. He recently created a gumboot wearing, skateboard-riding calf that could easily be wheeled out of the front door of a formally struggling restaurant. Many people stop, take photographs and end up eating there.

“It definitely works. It gets your message out there – it gets you noticed,” Glenn says.

To enhance Coops creative edge, Glenn recently brought on board 18-year-old Luca Noakes, who is working part-time until he finishes school.

“He brings a different style, and he can create spectacular wall art with spray paint.”

1 Anderson Road is also the home of Glenn’s sideline business, Dogbox Creations, which specialises in furnishing mancaves. This might include anything from creating art for the walls to making a beer fridge resemble a drink vending machine or the front-end of VW Kombi camper.

Glenn plans to site a food cabin outside the big shed where people can grab a coffee and something to eat, and relax under a shade sail, with the chance to peruse Dogbox Creations at their leisure.

Glenn says his love of signwriting began at age nine, when he began painting things like “For Sale” signs on car windscreens. He says he has never really wanted to do anything else.

“If you love what you do, you will always succeed,” he says.