Vintage Japanese Matchbox Art (1920-1940)

  

  

I could click through the hundreds of amazing designs documented in Maraid's Flickr.  No, correction, I've spent literally hours on end browsing through this UK web designer's photos, and I'm not even done yet -- it's hard to stop from clicking the "next page" button here.  

These are some beautiful Japanese matchboxes from the 1920s-1940s from a huge, jaw-dropping Flickr set.  Come to think of it, during those earlier times, matchboxes were truly the most effective form of flyers for bars, clubs, and the nightlife scene.  It's classy, everyone smokes during those days, and it's something that will be kept or held onto as long as there's matches in there.  If you take a look at the covers here, that's exactly what they are.  Advertising for a bar or lounge, sometimes the design looks like an Italian liquor poster, or features a map to show where the venue is.  Either way, I can't believe the quality of the designs for these matchboxes -- another disposable art that can also be amazing.