Matchbox Label Museum is located in a picturesque and charming village in Lori Region named after the forefather of Armenian storytelling Hovhannes Tumanyan.

Curating this kind of small and cozy museum was a lot of fun for me. The collection included matchbox labels from dozens of countries, with a huge variety of themes and designs. I would call them "compressed ideology and taste of their time and country". Matchbox labels used to be an efficient way of advertisement, propaganda and had an educating or even edifying function.

Tumanyan, Armenia
2021

The majority of the labels were made from the 30s to 80s of the 20th century. It's a kind of micro reflection of the world of that time in these small pieces. They are clearly representing the reality, perceptions,problems and designs that were unique for each country.

The clean, unobtrusive interior of the museum (so called white box) lets you break away from the disturbing elements and gives a chance to examine every single label one after the other. To make the visitor hunt for more details we have organized the shelves by countries and themes: national costumes and town seals, public education labels, space images, and, of course, match themes.

Sweden

Germany

Netherlands

India

USSR

Yugoslavia

Tumanyan Matchbox Label Museum