Long before Instagram grids or brand logos, India’s matchbox labels were tiny billboards that carried big stories. The story of India’s matchboxes begins in the early 20th century, when Swedish and Japanese matchmakers first shipped their wares here, local factories quickly caught on, setting up production hubs in places like Sivakasi — a small Tamil Nadu town that would become India’s matchstick capital. Cheap to make and easy to distribute, matchboxes were soon everywhere: tucked into sari folds, perched on shop counters, carried in pockets alongside coins and bidi packets.

But it was the label — that tiny slip of colour — that turned this humdrum object into a piece of pop culture. These labels weren’t designed by ad agencies but by local printers and lithographers, who borrowed images from calendars, religious iconography, freedom movement posters, and film hoardings.

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