Day: January 20, 2019

If you love candy and live in the Downtown Chicago area,we’ve got some sweet news for you. Oakbrook Terrace-based candy company Ferrara Candy Co. announced earlier this month that they will be moving their headquarters to Downtown Chicago near business apartments and short-term rentals into the old Chicago Post Office Building.

Ferrara Candy Co.,which produces classic candies such as Nerds and Lemonheads,currently has about 300 employees in their current Oakbrook Terrace headquarters which is near corporate housing as well. Ferrara CEO Todd Siwak says that the company is planning to add another 100 employees or so after the move,bringing their workforce to 400 in the new offices.

Ferrara was able to secure a lease on the old Chicago Post Office Building after the city of Chicago found out that Apple didn’t plan on expanding into the same building,a rumor that circulated for a while. The old post office,located near The Loop,has been vacant since 1996. According to city officials,the building is currently being renovated ahead of the new tenants.

Ferrara Candy Co. employees won’t be all alone in the building,either. Walgreens announced earlier this year that they’ll be moving 1,800 corporate employees into the same building next year as well. The building,which is an iconic landmark to longtime Chicago residents,will cost $800m to renovate,according to reports.

The Ferrara family has a long history in food,specifically in candy. Originally bakers in Italy in the 1800s,the family moved to New York at the turn of the century to open themselves up to new opportunities. In 1908 the family moved to Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood and opened a bakery. They sold typical bakery items,but they also made and sold their own candy,which is how they started out in this business. Once the family realized that their candy business was more valuable than their bakery business,they adjusted their priorities accordingly and the rest is history.

A signage is a visual representation to display information for an intended audience. It is usually a manifestation of places or names or positions. A signage can be in the form of banner,billboard,murals,posters,or plastic,neon,paper,and glass signs. It can be placed outside or inside an establishment.

Glass signs are usually indoor signs and are generally used in reception areas,retail-point-of-sale signage,toilet,and direction and entrance signs. They can also be name plaques which can be mounted on the wall or even on glass doors. They can also be bound in concrete or any other surfaces.

Glass etching is one technology used the creation of such signs. It is a technique of applying abrasive,caustic and acidic materials. This kind of technique began in the 1920s where art is directly engraved to the mold. Each glass piece that came out of the mold already has the art work on the glass’s surface. This is known as Depression glass. This kind of method has reduced manufacturing costs and eventually brought down the price of glassware in the 1930s. Colored glass was also used at around that time.

Glass etching uses acids that are extremely hazardous thus another technique was used which came to be known as abrasive blasting. Abrasive blasting uses high pressure that forces abrasive materials onto a surface to smooth,to roughen,to shape or to remove surface contaminants. Benjamin Chew Tilghman patented the first abrasive blasting process on October 18,1870.

Read more on custom signs and banners

Micro-abrasive blasting is commonly used on glass. It is also known as pencil blasting. It uses high pressure to propel the abrasive material through small nozzles which accurately deliver a very fine stream of material onto a very small area which consists of 1 square millimeter to only a few square millimeters.

Glass signs should be ADA compliant. ADA is an acronym for Americans with Disabilities Act which was enacted in 1990 by the United States Congress. It is a law that protects the civic-rights of persons with disabilities in the United States of America. It also protects Americans with disabilities against race,national origin,religion,and sex discrimination.

To be ADA compliant,a glass sign that refers to a permanent room or space of a facility,or directs or informs about spaces of the facility,or directs,informs and identifies accessible features of the facility,must comply with the ADA Accessibility guidelines.

ADA Accessibility guidelines include non-glare backgrounds and characters for all signs except reflective parking and traffic signs,high dark to light contrast between characters and background of the sign,easy to read and simple typefaces on the sign,use of upper and lower cases for directional and informational signs for easy readability,signs that labels rooms and spaces should be beside the room or space they identify,and Braille signs should be made available.

Glass signs can also be lit from behind to impress clients. Letters and graphics seem to float off the wall and are very good attention getters.