In the late 1800s, porcelain enamel signs were starting to take off. Adorning walls and storefronts, they soon swept across Europe in a glossy wave of colour.
Their incredible potential as a durable advertising medium did not escape the notice of the rest of the world, and in 1894 industrialist Alfred Muller Simpson would open the first Australian enamel sign manufacturing plant in Adelaide.
The early years
The company that would one day be known throughout Australia for its enamelled signage did not have an easy start.
Penniless, former ironworker and silk hat manufacturer Alfred (not Muller) Simpson would set sail for Australia with his family after a number of financial setbacks in London.
Arriving in Port Adelaide, he went from panning gold to tinning pans, working as a tinsmith and supplying local factories and agricultural industries. Simpson eventually founded his own hardware firm in 1855 – A. Simpson & Son.
The prodigal son
Alfred Simpson would soon apprentice his young son, Alfred Muller (M.) Simpson, as a tinsmith in his firm. With a keen mind and an eye for the mechanical, Muller would work for his father until he was 21, when he joined the firm as a partner in 1864.
Helmed by a family of innovators, A. Simpson & Son would soon begin producing a range of new products, experiencing early success with a dynamite-proof safe that would long be used in banks and offices.
They would go on to produce everything from ovens and gas stoves to bedsteads and japanned wares.
Growing influence
With his interest in machinery and knack for innovation, Muller would gradually expand his influence over the business, eventually growing it into an industrial powerhouse.
After a major expansion of their original premises and the development of two new facilities, Muller travelled to the 1878 Paris Exhibition with his wife in search of new production methods and labour-saving machinery.
Armed with new manufacturing techniques, an American double-action press and his knack for mechanical devices, Muller set about upgrading their facilities – hand tools were replaced with more advanced steam-powered machinery, and their workforce soon swelled into the hundreds.
A military injunction
- Simpson & Son would unexpectedly diversify their product range in 1885, when it was feared that Great Britain and Russia could go to war.
Anticipating a possible Russian invasion, the firm became South Australia’s first munitions manufacturer, producing both general munitions and submarine mines.
Success, succession and the first enamel
In 1891, Alfred Simpson passed away. By this point, the firm owned the largest metal manufacturing plant in Australia. Helmed now by Muller, A. Simpson & Son experienced continued success and prosperity, opening yet another manufacturing plant in 1894.
This new facility would naturally be equipped with the latest advances and innovations– in this case, it would capitalise on their metal manufacturing with the addition of the machinery and furnaces required to produce enamel coatings.
In 1901, Muller would pioneer the Australia enamelling industry.
Soon, A. Simpson & Son enamelled signs were appearing across the country and in capital cities, cementing their reputation and their place in Australian history.