If asked to name a long-lasting light source, you'd probably name LEDs. But as artist and fabricator David Ablon reminds us, you can find functioning neon signage that is eighty years old and still manning its post in front of some NYC storefront.

Ablon teaches courses in neon light fabrication at Brooklyn Glass, a studio and teaching facility in you-know-which borough that brings together artists, students and professionals. Check out what he does:

For those visiting or local to NYC, Let There Be Neon, the store where Ablon learned his craft, is still up and running down in TriBeCa. They have modernized a bit in that they've branched out into LEDs as well; I feel like lately I'm seeing more and more signs around New York featuring halo/backlit 3D letters like the one below, which they produced.

It's obviously easier to nail a company's logo via CNC or laser-cutting rather than bending it out of tubes, but I kind of miss seeing the "penmanship" of a good neon artist.