WHY DO YOU LIKE AND COLLECT MATCHES?
I’ve always loved seeing how a restaurant or bar chooses to translate their identity into a small, tangible object that guests can take home with them at the end of the night. You know, the color scheme, logo, maybe a catchphrase—they’re all very intentional and curated choices, because the space on a matchbook is so limited. I’m a little neurotic in that I maintain a spreadsheet of restaurants I’ve been to, and I think that my matchbooks are the fun version of the spreadsheet. They help me remember nights out, plus they’re great conversation starters for when I’ve got people over.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ONES AND WHY?
For my wedding, one of my best friends gifted me a custom print from @matchesbymem, whose owner Madison Connolly makes these absolutely stunning pieces of art that feature matchbooks from places that hold significance. Mine hangs above my bar cart, and it brings me joy every single day. Otherwise, I love my matchbook from Flood’s in Portland, Maine (which has since closed, so I’ll never have another); @donangienyc because the red and gold Art Deco style matchbook reminds me of the interior of the restaurant, and it’s one of my favorite places in the city; the custom wedding matchbooks I had made for our save the dates—which ended up having the date of our wedding before we had to postpone it due to COVID—but are still near and dear to my heart. Oh, and my @pammyscambridge matchbook(s), because it’s my favorite restaurant in Boston, and I used to live just around the corner.
WHEN AND HOW DO YOU LIKE TO ENJOY YOUR MATCHES?
I keep them in bowls all over the apartment—in the bathrooms, the living room, the coffee table, you name it. I’m unsurprisingly also a big candle person (the Edition hotel’s Le Labo collab candle is my favorite to splurge on), so the collection serves a practical purpose, though there are a handful of matchbooks that are definitely for show only. Those live in a little black and white enameled box from CB2 that sits next to our record player.
