Design Work Life: Cataloging Inspiration Daily

I’m in love with these match­box land­scapes cre­ated by Krista Charles, who has been col­lect­ing vin­tage match­books ever since inher­it­ing a stash from her grandfather-in-law. Here’s a bit about her process:

For each match­book I find where the loca­tion of the busi­ness would be in Google Maps and on the inside cover of the match­book I make a pen­cil sketch of what­ever is now shown at this loca­tion. On aver­age each draw­ing takes about two hours to com­plete. Sometimes the places adver­tised on the match­books are still in busi­ness even after decades have passed, some busi­nesses have changed names and are under new own­er­ship, and some build­ings are empty or have been torn down and replaced by new build­ings or park­ing lots or high­way expan­sion pro­grams and even empty fields.

The age of the match­books I use vary, but all are a unique view into the pre­vi­ous busi­ness and the dreams of its owner and how these places and by exten­sion all places and our his­to­ries change over time. Even the story of match­books has evolved and what was once a com­mon item to give out to pro­mote a busi­ness has now become a vin­tage item, rarer to find except in antique stores and our own junk drawers.

YOu can take a look at the entire series on her web­site, and there’s quite the selec­tion avail­able in her shop.

via Miss Moss