A real object, photographed once, printed for you.

Why matchbooks

For decades, a matchbook was the cheapest advertisement a Chicago bar, hotel, or restaurant could hand out. Every one of them was designed by hand, printed small, and thrown away without a second thought once the matches were gone. Most of the venues they came from are gone too. The matchbooks are what is left.

This isn't about "iconic Chicago" to me. It's about the specific room somebody remembers: a bar with a particular name over the door, a hotel where a family used to stay, a restaurant with a story attached to it. The matchbook is the closest thing that survives.

How a print gets made

Every piece in my catalog is a real, physical matchbook first. I photograph it by hand in my studio, under real light, at full resolution, not scanned flat or pulled from a phone photo of an old photo. What you see in a print is what the object actually looks like: the texture of the paper, the wear on the corners, the striker strip on the back.

I shoot each matchbook in my Chicago studio, located in West Town. Lit specifically to bring out the paper's texture without glaring off the ink. Each shot is photographed at the highest resolution possible, so every detail and unique characteristic of the matchbook comes through.

I print on matte, archival paper, in six sizes from five by seven up to twenty-four by thirty-six. Nothing is a digital download. Every order is a physical, archival print, produced through my print partner and shipped to you.

Who this is for

This is for vintage and retro decor collectors, mid-century enthusiasts, and anyone with a real, personal connection to this city: a former resident, a Chicago alum, someone who grew up two blocks from a bar that does not exist anymore. If a piece in my catalog means something specific to you, that is exactly who I made it for.

I'm Paul Zimmerman. I find each matchbook, photograph it in my studio, and ship every order myself.

I started this catalog on Etsy, under the shop name UrbanChicagoPhotos. Urban Chicago Photo is that same shop, direct.