If you’ve been distracted from the Islanders awkward kissing and firepit chats by the bright lights around the villa, you’re not alone. The iconic neon signs that have become staple “Love Island” interiors are back this season and provide the backdrop for all the drama. And as the cheeky slogans and suggestive designs are dotted around the Majorcan villa, it got us thinking: we need a neon light.
BAG&BONES has officially been providing the Islanders with Instagram-worthy opportunities since 2019, and there’s been a boom in the neon trend since. “We definitely benefit from a surge in sales around this time of year, which is brilliant for us,” Gigi Foyle, founder of BAG&BONES, told POPSUGAR as we pulled her for a chat. “We’re a small, independent company, so we feel very lucky that ITV has given us the contract. It also allows us to create lots of brilliant new content for socials, which is equally beneficial for the brand. Plus, all the fun we have as a team working on the show is an added bonus!”
The celebrity-approved brand has a roster of fans including Charlotte Tilbury and Kate Moss and is perfectly suited to the show thanks to its no-holds-barred approach to interiors. The more provocative the better, with previous designs including song lyrics, sketches of boobs, and even sexy slogans like “Wine me, dine me, sixty-nine me.”
Working closely with the ITV production team, Foyle loves to see her “Love Island” work up in lights – literally. “We’re loving the Lick Me Ice-Cream [sign] – anything that’s a bit tongue-in-cheek is always a bit of us!” she explains. “They also went for great colours on that one – yellow and pink, and it’s been styled on a foliage wall, so the whole effect is brilliant.” Host Laura Whitmore even posed in front of the “Thirsty” sign, proving the just how thirsty we all are for some mood-boosting neon.
With a selection of pre-designed lights to shop on the site, Foyle encourages shoppers to get creative themselves and challenge the team with their own ideas. “We have had some funny ones . . .some even a little risqué (often with a swear word or two!), but I have to say our favourite so far has been ‘Marry me?'” she reveals. “We made one, especially for a client, and it’s in his own handwriting, which is pretty special. And, obviously, she said yes!” Now, that’s a proposal we can get behind.
A close second in her back catalogue includes a re-creation of the iconic neon sign seen during Catwoman’s transformation scene in the “Batman Returns” film. It’s “a neon that switches between ‘HELLO THERE’ to ‘HELL HERE’.”
With a background in science, Foyle left her job to take on this new creative career. As a compulsive doodler, she moved from the west coast of Ireland to London and “fell in love with the city and its bright lights.” Living around the corner from God’s Own Junkyard, an art store selling neon, was where her love for the genre began. “Its seductive glow has always lured me in. It just has such a positive effect on my mood.”
In 2016, Foyle launched BAG&BONES, named as she used to live next door to a graveyard, with her sister, Cavanagh, who was previously a lawyer. And the pair have proved they are real girl-bosses after creating an all-female team. “We now have a small team of brilliant women who we have the pleasure of working with. The all-women thing is not on purpose – it just so happened that they were the best people for the job!” Foyle explains. “We’re really proud to be a female-founded and female-run organisation.”
Aside from the signs themselves, this small, independent business has a strong moral compass, too. Every Friday, the office shuts down, and the staff help at a local Soup Kitchen, and last year, it donated more than £10,000 to partner charities, with even bigger ambitions for 2022. Aptly, one of the charities it supports is the Cybersmile Foundation, a nonprofit organisation committed to digital well-being and tackling all forms of bullying and abuse online. While this is of the utmost importance in general, it is perhaps even more imperative in light of the “Love Island” partnership after past Islanders have experienced hateful messages online.
Having also created lights for TV Shows including Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice UK, and Big Brother, we have a feeling our neon obsession is going nowhere. Read on to see some of the best “Love Island” signs.
