This terrific article references all stripes of ephemera that collectors post to Instagram and singles out the popularity of picturess of matches that are featured by users with thousand's of followers on the site.
An Instagrammer, Bill Rose (@junktype) was quoted: “Most of the objects in my feed are no bigger than a couple of inches wide. They are often so small that my phone has trouble focussing given the close range of my subject.
Confirming Bill Rose's point, another popular Instagrammer, Charles Clarke (@matchbookdiaries) [with almost 13,000 followers] who's page exclusively concentrates on pictures of matches who shoots his matchbooks against a white background was quoted: “I use the white background because it looks clean, and because you can scroll my profile page and it doesn’t look like there are any dividers between the photos. It looks like a big poster.”
All lot of graphic designers refer to Instagram as a means of being plugged into the latest trends in design and to provide inspiration.
The article's author, ALEXANDRA LANGE reached out to Ara Devejian (@LetterGetter), a creative director and by way of his background she quoted him stating: “[he] started his [Instagram account] when he moved to Los Angeles’s superlatively-signed Theatre District. Every day, I try to take a new route to work or wherever, especially going way out my way to discover new places on my bike or in the car, and in turn LetterGetter is the happy byproduct of that curiosity.” At first Devejian wanted to document typographic nightmares—the illegible, the mishandled—but, as with most Instagram accounts, things swung over to the positive. The platform’s users have such a strong preference for things that are pretty (however you define it) that it’s difficult to swim against the tide of posting “bests” rather than “worsts.” “@LetterGetter helps inform some of the typographic projects I work on,” Devejian said, “like the title card I designed for Gymkhana 7. The style of the photos is intentionally flat or sparse in order to see the letterforms as they were conceived.” He goes on to say: “People have yelled at me—thinking I’m about to steal or break something—and then afterwards, realizing that I’m only taking pictures and admiring their car or whatever, tell me their life story,” Devejian says. “I’ve become painfully accustomed to just how fleeting signage is. It’s made me wonder whether I should become some sort of advocate for preservation, in attempt to postpone their inevitable disappearance.”
Here are some quotes from the article written BY SCOTT REITZ
"Some of the matchbook memories are more visceral than others. A blue box marks a memorable dinner I had with my mom at Zatinya in D.C. A black one with thin white lettering marks a birthday party where all my friends gathered to mark my third decade of not dying. I like those matches for far more than candle-lighting. Digging through the bowl is like paging through a photo album filled with my life's great meals.
... the business cards that have replaced [restaurants'] boxes don't have the same appeal. I'll grab one when I walk into a restaurant, but then it just sits in my wallet until the corners round and I dump them out on my dresser like playing cards. The restaurant Rolodex doesn't have nearly the romance as my bowl of matches. I need that strike of sulfur to ignite my memories.
In addition to being the President of TheMatchGroup, Joseph Danon has been a avid collector of vintage advertising Match books -amassing a collection comprised of tens of 1,000's of vintage advertising match books dating back over 100 years!
Well, while sifting through his collection, Mr, Danon found this well preserved Oldsmobile Motor Works Advertising Dept. Cover Letter dated March 12, 1928.
Original Oldsmobile Motor Works Cover Letter Announcing Co-operative Dealership Marketing Program
The purpose of the letter was to present a novel & low lost Match book advertising co-operative promotional program to be offered all Oldsmobile dealerships for them to participate by reserving the back of the match cover for them to advertise their dealership's name, address, telephone advertising copy under the OLDSMOBLE LOGO between the space above the tag line "A Match for Any Car". Depicted on the front cover was an eye catching full color illustration of a new Oldsmobile model for 1928 with the slogan "The FINE CAR OF LOW PRICE"l Match book.
The cost for the dealer to participate in this co-operative advertising program was the princely sum of .00415 per match book! To underscore the effectiveness of this co-operative advertising program, Oldsmobile as well as the majority of other car manufactures continued to offer this very effective and low cost advertising program to their dealerships up until the late 1980's!
1928 Oldsmobile Motor Works Match Book (front) Cover Presentation for Dealership Co-operative Advertising ProgramOldsmobile 1959 Super 88 Holiday Coupe Co-operative advertising match book
Fast forward 87 years later and TheMatchGroup continues this produce similar co-operative advertising match programs by partnering with many national/international brands such as Davidoff of Geneva, Drew Estate and General Cigar as well as many larger Candle Manufactures using their branded match books and match boxes as means to share the cost of and advertise co-operatively with their retail outlets!
For all of your branded match book and Match box needs GoTo: TheMatchGroup or call one of our match makers at 800.605.7331 to design and order your own logo's matches today!
Please take the time to visit www.GetMatches.com and check out our interactive tools to upload your logo and create your own match book and match box art layout designs!
TheMatchGroup was founded to provide the most efficient & responsive customer service, while offering the LOWEST Factory-Direct Prices and the Quickest Delivery Time in the industry. We produce the highest quality matches and promotional tabletop paper products at low factory direct costs. We offer the fastest order turnaround on the most popular domestically produced match books and boxes – from “proof to product” in a blazing 15 days!
With over 30 years in the industry, company founder Joe Danon's passion and devotion to the historic importance, whimsy and efficacy of match advertising is unrivaled. His devoted and loyal clientele have long benefited from his “Love of Light,” graphic design expertise and unparalleled product knowledge.
Joseph Martinez Oil Painting using the inside covers of match books as his canvas!
A fascinating re-purposing of Paper match books that are used by the artist Joseph Martinez to create original life like oil paintings as mini works of pocket fine art!
Check out the video montage of Joseph's fascinating work on Vimeo:
