Strike Now!

Celebrating the first successful friction match, invented in 1826 by John Walker, an English chemist and druggist from Stockton-on-Tees. In the first half of the 1800s, John Walker developed a keen interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but it had not been found possible to transmit the flame to a slow-burning substance like wood.*

Walker sold his first "Friction Light" on the 12th of April 1827 from his pharmacy in Stockton-on-Tees. They were made of cardboard at first but he soon began to use wooden splints cut by hand. Later he packaged the matches in a cardboard box equipped with a piece of sandpaper for striking. He was advised to patent his matches but chose not to and, as a result, Samuel Jones of London copied his idea and launched his own "Lucifers" in 1829, an exact copy of Walkers "Friction Lights".

*(1 Crass, M. F., Jr. (1941). “A history of the match industry. Part 1”. Journal of Chemical Education.)

Specification

Designed by our studio design team and printed by our expert production partners on Fujifilm 210gsm photo paper, chosen exclusively to produce high-quality colour prints. Each poster is printed using the Silver halide technique, a traditional photo printing method involving light-sensitive paper and silver-based chemistry, ensuring our prints capture true colours and offer a sharper, vivid image.

Available in A2 and A3 poster sizes.

Prints with Purpose

Profits from every purchase go directly towards supporting the local causes and community organisations that are closest to our hearts. This is part of our ongoing agency commitment to build a better place to live, learn and work; all while celebrating Teesside’s character, creativity and spirit of innovation.