The Match Deadly Sin

The history of the match shows us the necessity of men to have the possibility to switch fire in any situation. The fire can simbolize in this case the Pride (Superbia) of having the property on the fire. The same property of the fire has created in the beginning of the story the Envy (Invidia) in the richest people due to the losing of the exclusivity of the fire.

The original significate of the fire passes through the Anger (Ira) and the Lust (Lussuria) of the hell.

Source: Archeologiasperimentale.it

The Smell of a Match

The chemical composition of the match in its history changed radically from material such as phosphorus and potassium chlorate to a more safer materials (arriving to the safety match - or swedish - that uses red phosphorus instead of the white one).

Each chemical composition characterizes the smell of that single match, that change from the state: when it is off many of those have no smell at all or just that of the wooden stick.
The first matches were characterized by a bad smell due to the potassium. Adding phosphorus the smell was no more annoying.

When it burns the match spreads the smell of the sulphur for a short time.
A little curiosity about matches and smells is that they were used to hide unpleasant odors thanks to the sulphur itself.

The words of the Match

The Italian ABC Book:

A per Antivento / Accendere
B per Bastoncino / Berna (città svizzera dove venne raggiunto un accordo per proibire l'uso del fosforo bianco)
C per Cerino / Combustibile / Chimica
D per Durata (caratteristica fondamentale della cosa e delle differenti tipologie)
E per
F per Fosforo / Fuoco / Fumo
G per Grattare
H per Hans Christian Andersen
I per Infiammare / Innesco
L per Legno (componente principale di ogni fiammifero)
M per Minerva
N per Notte
O per Ossido di Piombo (materiale che ha reso sicuro l'uso del fiammifero)
P per Pasch (Gustav Erik), inventore dei fiammiferi di sicurezza, 1844 / Priester (Nota azienda tedesca di fiammiferi)
Q per Quotidiano
R per Riscaldare / Reazione
S per Svedesi / Sicurezza / Sfregamento
T per Tasse / Tabacco
U per Ustione (problema dei primi fiammiferi che erano caratterizzati da violenti inneschi) / Usa&Getta
V per Valobra (Chimico Italiano che inventò per primo il fiammifero a sfregamento)
Z per Zolfanello / Zolfo

A Match in a Book!

Book Cover

Il Fiammifero Svedese, Anton Cechov

Fiammiferi e altri racconti, Salinoch

Fiammiferi | Matches Boxes, Matteo Guarnaccia

I Fiammiferi | collezionismo curiosità e giochi, Anders Neumuller

Il cinema nella scatola di fiammiferi, Vladimir Stojšin

Il fiammifero svedese e il segreto dell'amore, Philip Pullman

Il gioco dei fiammiferi, Anna Pacifico

Il matrimonio dei fiammiferi, Carroll Jonathan

Io innalzo fiammiferi, Irene E. Leo

La bambina che amava troppo i fiammiferi, Gaétan Soucy

La nave di fiammiferi, Cinzia Sesti

At Home, a short history of private life

The chosen book for the course is «At Home, a short history of private life», in the italian version «Breve Storia della Vita Privata» by Bill Bryson.
The author tries to tell the history of the world, the evolution of the habits and life conditions through centuries by starting from his house in the eastern England.
He analyzes each room by its history and the people who lived and worked there, passing through the objects that was used there, creating a sort of a documented stream of consciusness.
The main narrative feature is that of telling first the rumors about the history and then solving the reader's curiosity by the documented ones.

Here there's an extract form the main course blogsite, History of Things, that analyzes the history of a room starting from the evolution of the name.

Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne

The Little Match Girl is a short story by Hans Christian Andersen, a danish poet, published for the first time in 1848 in the fifth volume of Nye Eventyr [New Tales].

Here's the italian version translated by Maria Pezzè-Pascolato, in 1903.

The original story written by Andersen was adapted for animation and Live-Action films.
The most recent one is a cartoon made by Disney and directed by Roger Allers.

Matches Collection (sorted by type)

1) White Phosphorus Matches
1831-1906 (when the white phosphorus was banned)
The white phosphorus match was invented in 1831 by Charles Sauria, who added the phosphorus to the first matches invented just 4 years before by John Walker. It results in a less violent combustion of the match.

reproduction - Sources: Goosebay

2) Swedish Matches / Safety Matches
1844
It was invented by Gustaf Erik Pasch. He introduced a strike surface with red phosphorus because of the autoignition of the white one. No more accidental starting was registered.

Sources: Wikipedia

3) Wind Matches
first decade of 20th century
The wind matches was manufactured with many other type (like pull matches and waterproof ones) to add the possibility of use in special conditions. In this case the surface was enlarged on the wood stick.

Sources: Museo Saffa

4) Pull Matches
first decade of 20th century

Sources: Museo Saffa

5) "Candelotti"
first decade of 20th century
The wood stick was replaced by a wax candle to burn for a longer period.

Sources: Museo Saffa

6) Strike Anywhere Matches
1898 (invention)
The Strike Anywhere Matches was invented in 1898 by Savene and Cahen, who added Phosphorus Sesquisulfide on the head of the match. They can be switched on any surface.

Sources: Wikipedia (year/history), diamond (photo)

7) Water Proof Matches
first decade of 20th century

Sources: Ozark Trail's

8) Double Match
2001

Sources: paoloulian.it

Sources:
Wikipedia
Corriere della Sera

A Graphic Design Revolution

It was 1906 when in the communication design something changed.
It all began with a poster competition sponsored by Berlin's Priester Matches Company, for which a young graphic designer, Lucian Bernhard, designed the advertising that became the father of a new form, called Sachplakat, or the object poster.
The Priester Match Poster presents just two matches and the name Priester.

Adler, Lucian Bernhard

Stiller, Lucian Bernhard

Sources:
PrintMag
Aiga
International Poster

'l Brichèt!

The english word match describes a "stick for striking fire" first used in the late 14c as macche. It comes from the word meiche (i.e. wick of a candle), from micca/miccia, from the Latin myxus, i, [Gk. mýxa].

The italian word fiammifero comes from the Latin flamma (fiamma) and fero (portare). Also named zolfanello from the chemical composition of its head.

The french word allumette, from the verb allumer [V. Latin alluminare], refers to the power of that stick to create the light.

The word brichèt from the piedmontese dialect comes from the french hriqitet, that is a metal stick used to produce sparks from a flint.

The chinese ideograms 火柴 [Huǒchái] refers to one of the five fundamentals elements, the fire [火] e the material used for the matches, wood [木].

Sources:
Etymonline.com
CNRTL Etymologie
Glossario etimologico Piemontese

Switching on Fire since 1827.

Here begins our trip.
A trip through the history of matches.