Matchbox labels and the stories they tell

Stories arise from every household item, even a matchbox and like Philately exists Phillumeny, the collection of matchboxes. An exhibition of major themes and trends in the history of Indian matchbox label design will be conducted at the Art Gallery IIC Annexe from the collection of Gautam Hemmady. 

The exhibition traces prominent themes and subjects in Indian matchbox label design from the earliest experiments of including the merchant’s name as a form of branding and quality assurance through various subjects that continued to search for competitive advantage in a highly unorganized industry.

Exhibits will include original matchboxes, labels, printed packaging material, and promotional products used by the industry, from Gautam Hemmady’s personal collection of over 25,000 items dating back to 1890. The exhibition is divided into sections dealing with a wide variety of subjects that include Merchant traders, Mythology, Religion, Art, Architecture, The swadeshi movement, Film, Advertising and messaging, Plagiarism, Kings and Courtesans and is loosely chronological, tracing the entire history of the Indian matchbox industry. “I have always wanted to collect matchboxes but it was only in 2012 that I actually started.  Since then I have managed to accumulate a large variety of material with a view to establish an archive of sorts,” said Hemmady.