matchbooks (and boxes) via courtney khail stationery and design Clockwise from top: montgomery place, london; twist restaurant, atlanta; bin 36, chicago; ritz carlton, chicago; electric brasserie, london; one midtown kitchen, atlanta; augusta national country club, augusta (I apologize for the poor capturing of the metallic ink on the ritz carlton and the augusta nationals books. the lighting just wasn't working with me today.)
As promised, this week I would focus on more current matchbook designs. Just like the vintage ones, high contrasting colors still appear just as important as they were back in the day, but now it seems as though many companies are abandoning the use of photographs and illustrations and opting instead for crisp, clean designs that have a strong focus on typefaces (in particular, sans serif typefaces.) The main exception are those establishments that are known for being traditional and prestigious (like the Ritz Carlton or the Augusta National Country Club- both which use serif fonts and opulent gold metallic foil.) Something that has been carried over from the past though is the use of brighter and more unique colors for the matchsticks themselves- many of them simply just the inverted color combination from the box (such as if the box is blue with white writing, the matchstick is white with a blue tip) or took an accent color from the logo and put that on the matchstick. Personally, I find the colorful matches to be a lot more fun than the ordinary red tipped ones and rarely can resist picking up a matchbook that has them.