Blog
September 19, 2026
Suspended Channel Letter Sign for Yashogandharva, Shaniwar Peth
No wall to fix it on, no budget for a frame and five days to do it. So we hung a building’s name from its ceiling.
Case study · Yashogandharva, Shaniwar Peth
A building name with nothing to hang on
Most clients find us through a referral. Shivraj Mankar only had to look across the road. He built Yashogandharva, the building right opposite our workshop in Shaniwar Peth, so he isn't just a client. He's a friend and a neighbour.
Which sounds lovely, until you discover that friends who live across the road don't take no for an answer.
Size
About 6 x 3 ft
Letters
Aluminium channel, orange acrylic
Lighting
Hundreds of LEDs inside
Deadline
5 days, start to finish
The problem
No wall, no frame, no way out
Every signboard needs somewhere to sit. Usually we fix the letters straight onto an existing wall, or we build an ACP base panel, assemble the letters on it and fix the whole board on site.
Yashogandharva, right across the road from our workshop in Shaniwar Peth.
Shivraj was having none of it. His architect had already given up, so the whole thing landed on my desk.
No open wall
There was no free wall at the entrance to take a board, or even the letters on their own.
No budget for a frame
An ACP base frame costs extra, and he wasn't paying for a sign to hold up his sign.
The architect gave up
Usually the client's architect helps us find a spot. This time the architect had thrown in the towel.
A neighbour who won't take no
It's hard to say no to someone who knows you well. He knew that too.
The usual way
How a lit sign normally sits
Here's what I'd normally make: LED-lit 3D letters assembled on an ACP base board, with the whole board fixed on a wall. Sturdy, tidy, easy to install.
It's how most of our 3D LED acrylic sign boards are built. And it needs two things this entrance didn't have: a wall, and a budget for the base.
Our answer
Forget the wall. Hang it from the ceiling.
I sat on the problem for a few days. Then Shivraj walked in and, metaphorically speaking, put a gun to my head: find a solution, and find it now.
So I said the first wild thing that came to mind. Let's hang the letters from the ceiling at your entrance, in thin air.
Centre stage
The sign gets the most central spot at the entrance, right where every visitor looks up.
No base to pay for
He pays for the letters, not for a board to carry them.
Anything that saves him money brings a smile to his face. The metaphorical gun was withdrawn.
How we made it
Letters first, then the invisible frame
1
Shape the letters
Every letter of the name, in its flowing Devanagari script, built as a hollow channel letter: an ACP back with aluminium profile sides.
2
Pack in the LEDs
Hundreds of LEDs fitted inside the hollow letters, so each one glows brightly from within.
3
Fit the faces
Orange acrylic faces laser-cut on our own machines in the exact shape of each letter, sitting on top to finish them.
4
Build the hidden frame
A frame fabricated from metal pipes, with every letter fixed onto it. The pipes sit behind the letters, where nobody looks.
Testing day
Half lit, half not
Every letter was wired and switched on in the workshop before it left. Here some are lit and some aren't yet, and you can see the white backs and one of the pipes that carries them.
Then came the real deadline
Two weeks? You have five days.
A sign like this normally takes us a week to 15 days. Much of it is careful handwork, and this one also needed a metal frame fixed to a ceiling about 30 feet up, which meant bringing in a crane. So I asked for two weeks.
Out came the metaphorical gun again. He had promised to hand over the building's offices and shops to his clients on 15 August, just five days away, and the sign had to be up by then.
I told him to find another vendor. Instead he walked over to my team. He knows Preetam and Sachin by name (perks of being a neighbour), and he talked them into pausing everything else in our queue for his job. Wonder of wonders, we fabricated and installed the whole thing a day before his deadline.
From behind
Why it hugs the ceiling
Pune Municipal Corporation rules say a new building's entrance must stay clear enough for a fire engine to drive in, and Shivraj didn't want his letters dangling low anyway. So the pipes are fixed to a beam in the ceiling, and the letters start the moment the pipes leave it. From the front, you'd never know.
That was a one-off sprint, not our normal pace. Fabricated signs usually take 10-15 days after you approve the proposal.
Lights off, lights on
Spot the difference
By day
Orange letters hanging quietly under the ceiling.
By night
Hundreds of LEDs later, nobody walks past without looking up.
Both photos were taken at the building entrance after installation.
Before you buy
What a 3D glow sign really costs
Planning a lit sign of your own? This short video walks through what goes into the price of a 3D acrylic glow sign.
Watch it before you sign off on anyone's quote. Ours included.
The specs
What went into it
Size
About 6 ft x 3 ft
Letters
Aluminium channel letters: ACP back, aluminium profile sides
Faces
Laser-cut orange acrylic
Lighting
Hundreds of LEDs inside the letters
Mounting
Hidden pipe frame fixed to a ceiling beam about 30 ft up, letters tight under the ceiling to keep the entrance clear
Time taken
5 days, fabrication to installation (a one-off sprint)
Price
₹42,000 + 18% GST, all in: letters, hidden frame, crane and installation
Want one?
What a sign like this costs
Signs like this are 3D LED acrylic sign boards. Every one is designed for its site, so we price it in a proposal. For planning, use about ₹2,000 per sq ft + 18% GST for the letters.
Yashogandharva came to ₹42,000 + GST, all in: the letters, the hidden pipe frame, the crane and the installation. Normally installation is quoted separately, once we've seen the site.
3D LED letters (planning guide)
about ₹2,000 per sq ft + GST
Hidden ceiling frame
quoted for your site
Installation in Pune
quoted for your site
Good to know
Lead time
Usually 10-15 days after you approve the proposal and pay. Rush jobs move up the queue when the schedule allows, but we never promise a fixed date.
Installation
In Pune, on orders of ₹10,000 + GST and above, quoted separately. Outside Pune, we ship and your local team installs.
Warranty
6 months from installation. After that, repairs are chargeable.
Your logo
Send it as .AI or .CDR. No vector file? Our favourite Pune designers can help. We don't design logos ourselves.
Before we build anything, you get a proposal with the layout, the materials and a clear cost breakdown.
Got a wall?
Then you have two simpler options
₹2,000 per sq ft + GST
Backlit letters on a base plate
LED-lit acrylic letters on a base plate, fixed on your wall. The classic way, and the one Shivraj said no to.
See the shop page →₹2,000 per sq ft + GST
Standalone backlit letters
Glowing letters fixed straight on the wall, no base plate, for a floating look.
See the shop page →Comparing all the acrylic options? Our acrylic sign boards guide lays them side by side, and the board finder in our sign board guide shortlists one for you.
The happy ending
One smile, delivered a day early
The sign went up a day before the deadline, the handover happened on time, and the man across the road was smiling again. So was my team, eventually.
Some jobs teach you more about problem-solving than about signage. When a client refuses the normal answer, sometimes that's exactly what pushes you to a better one.
More stories from our workshop
Case study
Gold acrylic logo board for ISKCON Pune, BCEC
A whole lotus in mirror gold on a 3 x 3 ft board, lit from behind.
Read the story →Case study
Gold acrylic wall logo for Her Table
A supper club logo fixed straight on the wall, letter by letter.
Read the story →Your turn
Got a sign problem that has stumped everyone else?
Send us a photo of your site and your logo on WhatsApp. We like the tricky ones.
Looking for any specific product?
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh Sanghani
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
