With around 35,000 matchboxes in his collection gifted to the Museum of Art and Photography, Gautam Hemmady was passionate about matchboxes and the stories that they tell. Right from the beginnings of the match industry in the 1830s to the boom in match label designs in India in the 1950s and ‘60s, match labels showcase the evolution of the industry and economy in their design, patterns, and even structure of the boxes.
Eraser labelMuseum of Art & Photography
The earliest match labels had no images, just notices of safety concerns. Once match production became formulaic, the labels carried only manufacturer names. Images were to be decorative rather than advertising the product. Sweden dominated the match production industry and exported to countries in Africa, South Asia and South America.
Matchbox label - Indian typesMuseum of Art & Photography
European travellers and colonisers brought back sketches and impressions of India, and labels for the Indian export market were based on these. European artists drew highly-oriental images of regal kings and queens, bejewelled courtesans, dancing girls, and singers. Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Japan exported labels to India as well, for consumption by both Indians and Europeans.
Indian ‘types’ were popular series—depictions of persons of various professions and communities.
Popular imagery of gods, goddesses, and mythological scenes were also circulated widely. Ravi Varma’s oleographs of the same, acted as a reference and were numerous and readily-available. These visuals were recreated in all producer countries for match labels.
Labels from different countries have their own distinctive features—the figures drawn from their immediate visual acquaintance, such as the labels of Lakshmi from Austria and Japan. Early depictions of Krishna and Balaram, Damayanti and the swan, Kadambari Ganesha, Rama and Sita populate these labels, along with many other figures.
Lakshmi BrandMuseum of Art & Photography
The Japanese labels of Saraswati depict both Ravi Varma’s Saraswati with her mount, a peacock, at her side as well as Saraswati seated on the peacock, with its tail feathers open in a halo-like fan around her.
As small-scale match production began in India in the 1890s, the manufacturer-importer labels began to carry slight distinctions.
Poster paperMuseum of Art & Photography
Prior to the 1890s, the matchboxes were imported as whole items from the producer nations. With the process of production becoming fragmented, the matches came to be produced in India while the labels were still printed abroad.
Two labels of the same design, printed in Japan and unspecifiedMuseum of Art & Photography
Labels such as this one would note the distinction, for instance ‘Made in India’ and ‘Printed in Japan’, to note the different manufacturing centres.
With increased calls for the Swadeshi movement, the match industry began embodying the events and persons of the Swadeshi movement in their labels.
Swadeshi labelsMuseum of Art & Photography
The slogan ‘Home Rule’ juxtaposed with the line ‘Made in Japan’ on matchlabels, which also carried images of leaders such as Tilak and Gokhale, the charkha, and Gandhi, illustrates the tensions present in the political scene between empire and nation.
Indian labels featured the same themes, with Gandhi, Dadabhai Navroji, the Indian subcontinent as Bharat Mata and Hind Devi, and women seated at the charkha. The ubiquitous matchbox was the perfect affordable advertising medium to disseminate messages- be they of home rule, of independence, of the idea of a nation, of ever-present cultural signifiers.
The match industry in India grew rapidly post independence. While labels still drew their inspiration from their European and Japanese predecessors, they also drew inspiration from familiar elements as well as from established brands.
Camel and ManMuseum of Art & Photography
Slogans and campaigns for causes, monuments, actors and actresses, signifiers of luxury and pleasure all featured as match labels to create brand association and consumer loyalty.
The messages and visuals on the everyday household item of a matchbox ensured their circulation to every level of society—Nehru’s ‘Ornaments for Armaments’ call for the 1962 Indo-China war, ‘ civic-minded spirit of the ‘Samaj Kalyan’ labels, the ‘Buy TB seals’ to spread awareness of protection against tuberculosis.
Lakshmi Sewing MachineMuseum of Art & Photography
Collector label sets feature series comprising ancient coins, guitars, tobacco pipes, and exotic historical sites—simultaneously aspirational and engaging.
Ultimately, matchlabels yoked commercial and non-commercial pursuits. The labels belong to the then-present, but depict images that speak of aspiration and thus the future.
Bharat inkMuseum of Art & Photography
Nonetheless, the thought and industry that was involved in the creation of the match label alone speaks of the economic, governmental, commercial happenings in India’s infancy, and at its core, the visual pleasure that they were designed to give.
