March 2026 marks a very special milestone at Signs Now as Carlo Matarazzo celebrates 25 years with the business.
Carlo joined us in 2001 straight from Wolverhampton University, where he’d been studying Business Management. At the time, The Apprentice concept had just launched on TV with Sir Alan Sugar and we were working closely with the university’s recruitment programme.
We put up posters advertising for ‘Bill’s Apprentice’ and Carlo answered the call. It proved to be the start of something special.
He began in our Wolverhampton office in what was then a brand new sales role during a time when we wanted to see whether becoming more sales-led could transform our traditional sign company.
Cold calling was a tough introduction to the industry; Carlo and our Managing Director, Bill Dunphy, would head out one or two days a week to retail parks, business estates and high streets, trying to meet our objective of knocking the door of every single shop we passed. When the pair reached an undertakers, Bill drew the line - but Carlo walked straight in, and many of the relationships he built in those early days are still with us today.
Some time later, when we landed our first ever £1,000 job for a local cycle store, it felt like we were taking on the building of the Channel Tunnel - but Carlo’s confidence carried us through and we’ve continued growing into one of the country’s most trusted and reputable signmakers.
Since then, Carlo has become not only one of our most senior sales consultants, but one of the industry’s foremost experts in materials and technical solutions. From floating copper installations at Resorts World to major projects for Urban Fun and complex branding changes on high rise buildings in Canary Wharf, Carlo has consistently pushed boundaries.
His meticulous approach, encyclopaedic product knowledge and passion for signage, reflected in his involvement with the British Sign & Graphics Association’s technical committee, have given us the belief to tackle projects we once thought beyond our reach.
Affectionately known as Benjamin Button because he seems to look younger every year, Carlo remains as driven as ever.
Bill said: “Carlo is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable people I have ever met. His confidence has helped us grow from those nervous early jobs into a business capable of delivering the most complex schemes, around the whole of the UK and even internationally. We simply would not be where we are without him.”
Give Carlo a follow here on LinkedIn - and feel free to ask him from us which moisturiser he’s been using all these years!