It’s funny how inspiration comes from the most unlikely places, but I was reading through the newest issue of Gourmet when I came across these awesome matches called Bloc. These blocks of matches are carved from a single block of pine, with the striking area at the bottom. The blocks come in 4 different ways though. There’s the Bloc 36, which has 36 matches, Bloc 100, which has 100 matches, The Bush, which is a longer match used for lighting a fireplace, and The Log, which is a piece of wood that when taken apart properly gives you 9 pieces of wood, making for excellent kindling. The Bloc series was created by designer Franck Fontana who also made that Invisible Bookshelf.

I think these are amazing on many different levels. First there’s no waste involved, everything is made from wood and can be burned ( I know, carbon, whatever). Second, they look amazing, I absolutely love the Bloc 36 and 100, I think they’d look good just sitting out on a table. They’re also pretty cheap as well, running about $20 – $40 for everything I talked about.

I had a hell of a time tracking these down, but I eventually found them for sale at LifeIsGoods.com (the magazine printed the url wrong).