Robert Boyle invented the first match in the 17th Century. In 1844 Johan and Carl Lundström started their famous factory in Jönköping, and at the World Fair in 1855 they won high praise and medals for this useful invention.

We took a couple of days in December to visit the old factory area, and this is the entrance where you can see some giant matches lit near the main road.

The matches are made from aspen trees, and from one tree only you can get about 370000 matches. Why aspen? Aspen is porous and yet sustainable, has no resin and burns with a clear, even flame.

We saw all the machines used and a gallery on how bad the phosphorous was to the workers the first few years before the safety match was created by Gustaf Erik Pasch in 1844. People were poisoned and some even died.

On display were also many of the beautiful covers made for the match boxes. I remember some of them from my childhood, but mostly of course the sun – match – boy. My favourite is the Tiger – hanging on the wall too. Unfortunately the designers´ and artists´ names (from many countries) were lost over time, and only one of them was truly recognised – Einar Nerman, who made the little boy in the first gallery far left. That boy was his own son, Tom, portrayed in 1936.

We had a great day of nostalgia and a lovely fish and chips dinner at a renowned restaurant.