Finding a Perfect Match

Archivist Cigar Matches

The cards produced by Archivist Press are rather distinctive, with bold letterpress colours and compositions, and charming nostalgic touches. I always stock up when I spot them for sale. Archivist Press seem to produce the right image for every occasion.

Operating out of Oxfordshire, England, since 1994, husband and wife team Sarah and William Allardice remain committed to offering 'high quality letterpress products that never lose their sense of fun'. They believe that traditional letterpress printing — using a relief impression on blocks — produces the most pleasing results for their designs. The great thing about Archive Press is that they believe 

'it’s only worth doing business if you’re going to be nice about it'

. I decided to bold that statement. Apologies if that comes across as uncouth.  But it's an excellent philosophy, and one worth supporting wholeheartedly, chaps. And their waste not, want not attitude is wholly admirable too: Archivist use card and paper made from sustainable forests harvested in the Lake District.

I'm now picking up Archivist's matchboxes, like their square-boxed Cigar Matches (below) and the Matinee Idol matches (top). The matches are a good four inches long. I'm slowly building a pile jenga-style on the occasional table next to the modernist uranium glass Murano Sommerso ashtray.

As with the cards and stationery Archive Press produce, their matchboxes are lovely but functional objects. Go take a stickybeak at them. I'm sure one or two of you will be tempted to collect their whole range of matchboxes too — good show.

Let's support the nice people, our kind of people. Believe me, some of the people I've dealt with writing The Tweed Pig. You wonder how they stay in business. I can assure you the unpleasant ones never see the light of day on our pages.

Tip: Don't try and light your cigar and another chap's at the same time — it will give enough time for the enemy to fix your position.