Bigfork company creates custom signs it ships around the world

Right off the Swan River highway lies an unexpected building and home to an array of wooden and metal signs. The full service fabrication and design company Meissenburg Designs ships signs all over the world.

“We've grown from making homemade inks in a microwave and duct-taping makeshift equipment, to over 40 employees and a state-of-the-art facility,” the company’s website says.

Owners Loyd and Laura Meissenburg have owned and operated the made-in-Montana company for 33 years and ship out tens of thousands signs annually, said Levi Felt on a tour of the business for the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce’s manufacturing month held in October.

Loyd and Laura met in the late 1970s while taking a cartooning class at UC Irvine and in 1985, the couple decided to plant roots in Bigfork. Having an interest in doodling and art himself, Loyd helped Laura make merchandise for her downtown gift shop, Electric Avenue Gifts, thus spurring on a new legacy for the couple.

“[Meissenburg Designs] kind of started just as a small thing for Laura's store, Electric Avenue Gifts, and then it expanded as other people wanted to get involved,” said Felt. “Now we ship out tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of signs.”

The business works with individuals as well as with large companies such as national beer companies, theme parks, wineries, and not-for-profit conservation groups. Some notable companies the company has worked with include Disney, Yuengling brewing company, and Chateau Ste. Michelle, one of Washington state’s oldest wineries.

“We have both promotional sales where we deal with things like the breweries and then we have our standard mom and pop retail stores that order a lot of our products which is where most of our personalized product goes,” said Felt. “[The products] go all over the country and even overseas. We ship fairly frequently to New Zealand, a lot of places in Canada, Turkey, and I think the farthest away I've ever seen a drop ship was Qatar.”

Signs can be customized and designed to a client’s particular needs with the help of an experienced graphic design team and wood and metal cutters. Apart from wooden and metal signs, Meissenburg Designs also offers coat racks, barrel end decor, brick signs, metal box art, travel and luggage tags, and outdoor pillows. Many of the designs come from old magazines and print material from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s thanks to Loyd’s love for all things vintage, Felt explained.

“We use things that are in the public domain and have originals that we scan in,” he said. “There are some publishers that we work with and pay royalties. We also work with some artists and do a lot of scouring of Ebay to find old stuff.”

Designs aren’t automatically computer generated, rather, the graphic design team works to ensure the proper fit and style on each personalized piece. Once a design is ready to go, it makes its way downstairs to the workshop space where machines for corrugating, cutting, custom packaging, and printing all live.

“Thanks to this technology, what used to take 15 minutes to print one sign now takes 3 minutes to print 15 signs,” said Felt. “It can be done a lot faster and to a much better resolution and quality.”

With two permanent showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas, representatives around the country, and a presence at trade shows, Meissenburg Designs hopes to continue growing its reach.

Products are available for purchase at oldwoodsigns.com and the company can be reached by phone 406-837-3005 or email questions@oldwoodsigns.com.

Reporter Summer Zalesky may be reached at szalesky@dailyinterlake.com.