Bayan Signage makes brass and copper letters for hotels, restaurants, villas and heritage shopfronts from its Ajman factory. We agree the finish route first, polished, lacquered, living or pre-aged, then cut, join, hand-finish and fit each letter with brass or stainless fixings, so the sign ages the way you expect it to.
Brass letters are 3D sign letters made from brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, either fabricated from 1.2 to 2 mm sheet or cut solid from 3 to 10 mm plate. Copper letters use the redder pure metal, and bronze is mostly used for cast plaques. All three carry a warmth that suits boutique hotels, fine dining, majlis-style interiors, jewellers, villa gates, family business headquarters and heritage districts across Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
Brass is a living metal. Left bare outdoors in UAE humidity it darkens within weeks, and near the coast copper turns green over a few years. A good brass sign is therefore a decision as much as a fabrication: will it be kept polished, sealed under lacquer, allowed to age naturally, or given a pre-aged patina from day one? We settle that before quoting, then finish to suit in our Ajman factory, where brass is kept apart from steel work to avoid contamination.
Bayan Signage is the production arm of Bayan Advertising, which has worked in the UAE for 15 years, and our factory at Alam Square, Industrial Area 2, Ajman has been making signage since 2016. Brass jobs pass through the same hands as all our metal work: a designer checks the calligraphy at real size, a fabricator joins and finishes it, and our installers fix it wearing clean gloves.
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Brass and copper suit a handful of builds very well. These are the ones we make most, with related pages where a different metal may serve you better.
Fabricated brass faces with warm white LEDs washing the wall behind. A lamp-like glow for hotel drop-offs, restaurants and residential lobbies.
View details →Cut from 3 to 10 mm plate and pinned to stone or render. Ideal for villa names, gate pillars and short boutique names under 300 mm.
View details →Layered or fabricated logo marks, often combined with aged copper or dark backgrounds, for majlis interiors, family offices and heritage brands.
View details →Solid cut house numbers and family names in brass or copper for gate pillars and boundary walls, sized to be read from the street, not the doorstep.
View details →A gold look with almost no upkeep. We suggest it when nobody will maintain the sign and its colour must never change.
View details →We visit the site, free in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, look at sun, shade, sea air and irrigation, and agree whether the brass will be polished, lacquered, living or pre-aged.
Designers check fonts and Arabic calligraphy at full size. Brass needs strokes wide enough to hand-finish and lacquer cleanly, so fragile hairlines are flagged on the proof.
Faces are cut to the approved outline. On fabricated letters, returns are folded and soldered or brazed, with seams placed at corners where a slight colour change will not show.
Every edge is smoothed, then faces are brushed or polished. Lacquer magnifies any scratch left underneath, so this stage takes longer on brass than on any other metal we work.
Lacquer is sprayed in a clean area, or a patina is applied and sealed. Letters are checked against the approved sample, and lit letters are burn-tested with their warm white LEDs.
Installers wear clean cotton gloves, because fingerprints mark unlacquered brass within days. Letters go up on brass or stainless studs from a full-size template, and film comes off last.
This is our usual starting point for an outdoor fabricated brass name. Interior and solid-letter jobs differ, and every option is itemised on the quote.
| Component | Our standard | Upgrade options | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal | Brass sheet, 1.2 to 2 mm | Copper sheet, solid 3 to 10 mm plate | Thickness controls flatness and weight, and brass prices make it a big cost lever. |
| Surface | Brushed and lacquered | Mirror polished, living, pre-aged patina | The top layer decides the look after a year outside, not the metal underneath. |
| Returns | 30 to 60 mm, soldered or brazed | Deeper returns for halo lighting | Depth gives shadow and room for LEDs; seam placement hides colour changes at joints. |
| Lighting | Unlit | Halo-lit, Samsung or Epistar IP65 modules, warm white | Cool white light makes brass look greenish; warm white makes it glow. |
| Fixings | Brass or stainless studs | Hidden sub-frame on cladding | Plated steel screws corrode against copper alloys and stain the wall below. |
| Care plan | Written care notes at handover | Planned re-lacquer visit | Outdoor lacquer has a life; planning its renewal avoids patchy letters. |
Brass rewards a clear decision up front. These are the points we talk through with every client before we quote a brass or copper sign.
Polished and lacquered brass stays bright for a few years outdoors, then needs stripping and re-lacquering. Living brass darkens quickly and polishes back to gold whenever you want. Pre-aged brass is brown from day one and barely changes. Copper goes pink-orange, then brown, then green near the sea. Each route costs differently, so we confirm which picture you have in mind before pricing.
Brass reads through contrast, not brightness, and gold on cream limestone can look faint at 15 m in midday glare. We size brass at about 30 mm of letter height for every 3 m of viewing distance, a little more than the 25 mm we use for brighter materials. A restaurant name read from the pavement at 10 m usually starts at 100 to 150 mm.
Cool white LEDs behind brass make the metal look green and cheap at night. Warm white modules at around 2,700 to 3,000 K make the same letters glow like a lamp. The difference is obvious on a single test letter, and we light one for you in the workshop on halo jobs if you are unsure.
Steel screws in brass letters create galvanic corrosion, leaving rust and green streaks down your stone. Every fixing in contact with brass should be brass or stainless. The same thinking applies to placement: keep brass out of sprinkler and irrigation spray where possible, because repeated wetting with hard water spots lacquer and speeds tarnish on living finishes.
On a sun-facing UAE wall, outdoor lacquer usually needs renewing every two to four years; under a canopy or indoors it lasts much longer. Once it starts failing, it fails in patches. Booking the strip, polish and re-lacquer when the first dull areas appear is cheaper than waiting until the whole sign looks blotchy. Never let cleaners use brass polish on lacquered letters.
Brass is priced from the drawing and the finish route. Send your logo, sizes and a site photo, and tell us how you want the metal to age, and we will return an itemised quote, usually within 24 hours.
Brass and copper cost far more per kilogram than aluminium or stainless, so letter area and plate thickness move the price more than with other metals.
Solid letters are simple but use a lot of metal. Fabricated letters use less brass but take more skilled soldering and finishing time.
Mirror polishing, lacquering and patinas are hand processes. A patina needs controlled application and sealing, and lacquer needs a clean, dust-free spray area.
Fine serifs and Arabic calligraphy mean more cutting and much more hand finishing, because every edge is smoothed before lacquer or patina.
Halo lighting adds warm white modules, back panels, drivers and deeper returns, plus a night test before handover.
A polished sign kept bright needs planned polishing or re-lacquer visits, which belong in the real cost from the start.
Outdoor brass letters are treated like any other sign. In Dubai that usually means Dubai Municipality or the relevant free-zone authority, and in Sharjah and Ajman the local municipality. Brass is often welcome in heritage quarters and master communities, where bright acrylic boxes may not be, but some areas set rules on materials, colours and lighting.
Villa name signs and gate letters may also need community or developer approval. Our draftsmen prepare the drawings, check Arabic and English wording against your licence or title, and handle the submission. Requirements vary by plot and change over time, so we confirm them for your exact site at the survey.
We explain how polished, lacquered, living and aged brass will look after a UAE summer before you commit, so there are no surprises.
Cutting, joining, hand finishing and lacquering happen in our own factory, and you are welcome to visit during production.
Brass or stainless studs only, and gloved installers, so the wall stays clean and the metal stays unmarked.
Our electricians wire and test warm white LEDs and keep drivers in ventilated, reachable boxes on halo-lit brass signs.
If nobody will maintain the sign, we say so and quote PVD gold stainless steel alongside the brass option.
More than 500 clients, including national retail groups and international brands, with most work coming from repeat clients and referrals.
It depends on the metal, letter size, solid or fabricated build, finish route and lighting. Brass costs more per kilogram than steel or aluminium, so a short villa name in solid plate can cost more than a longer painted aluminium sign. Send the wording, sizes and a photo, and we will send an itemised quote, usually within 24 hours.
Yes. Unprotected brass darkens within weeks in UAE heat and humidity, moving from bright gold to a deeper brown. A clear lacquer slows this for a few years, regular polishing keeps it bright, or a pre-aged finish makes the darker tone the intended look. We agree which route you want before fabrication.
Brass is copper with zinc and has a yellow-gold tone. Bronze is copper with tin, darker and browner, and mostly used for cast plaques. Copper is the pure metal, pink-orange when new, turning brown and eventually green outdoors. For fabricated sign letters, brass is by far the most common choice.
Over time outdoors, yes. Copper first darkens to brown, and in humid or coastal conditions develops green verdigris over several years. Some restaurants and boutique hotels want exactly that. If you do not, the copper can be lacquered, or a pre-aged brown finish can be applied and sealed so the colour stays stable.
It is a good alternative if you want a gold look that never changes and needs almost no care. PVD stainless has a very even colour and does not tarnish. It lacks the depth and gentle ageing of real brass and cannot be polished back if scratched. We often show both side by side.
Yes. Fabricated brass letters are often halo-lit, using warm white LED modules of around 2,700 to 3,000 K so the brass glows rather than looking green. Solid plate letters have no room for LEDs, so they are left unlit or lit from outside with small spotlights or a wall washer.
Yes, it is one of the most popular uses. Solid brass numbers or a family name of 80 to 150 mm on a stone or render pillar look traditional and personal. Choose lacquered or pre-aged brass if the gate gets irrigation spray or sea air, and insist on brass or stainless fixings.
Lacquered brass needs only a soft cloth and mild soapy water; metal polish strips the lacquer unevenly. Living brass can be polished as often as you want it bright. Aged finishes should simply be dusted and rinsed. When outdoor lacquer starts to dull, we take the letters down, strip, polish and re-lacquer them.
Send your logo, the fascia size and a site photo. Our estimating team replies with options and an itemised price, usually within 24 hours.