Clipper (lighter)

Clipper is the brand name of a type of refillable butane lighter, designed by Enric Sardá and owned by Flamagas S.A.^[1] since 1959. The registered round lighter shape has become a visual icon. The Clipper lighter is considered highly collectable due to the fact that the company is able to rely on a great team of designers, inspired by the most up to date trends in the market to constantly launch new and fashionable collections.

Clipper is the worldwide leader in refillable lighters, with a high quality brand positioning. The lighters are mostly produced in Barcelona, (Spain), while others are manufactured in Chennai,(India) and Shanghai, (China).^[2]. Clipper has a wide range of lighters, gas refills and other accessories. The first Clipper lighter was made in 1972, and now the level of production is around 450 million units / year that are distributed worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Clipper is a division of the parent company Flamagas S.A^[3], which also distribute stationery and electronics for such brands as Casio and Daewoo^[4]

Associations

Some people associate the use of the Clipper lighter with roll-your-own cigarettes. This is due to its removable flint system which is often used by smokers to poke rolled-up cigarettes, in

Collectors

Many people collect the Clipper lighter due to the wide variety of designs that Clipper put on their lighters, which tend to follow current trends. Clipper has unique collections and also a great printing quality so there's a product differentiation. During recent years the term "Clipper Mania" has been coined due to many Clipper consumers collecting all the designs the company offers, which is why the Clipper lighter is considered as highly collectable. Many are also decorated and personalised in post-production.

In popular culture

• British garage artist The Streets used the Clipper lighter as his logo^[5]. The lighter (bearing the name of the artist) appears on all five of their album covers. Their merchandise includes branded Clipper lighters.
• The Artist Damien Hirst also used the images of the Clipper lighter in a series of Artworks together with Silk Cut tobacco boxes.
• The authors Anna Hyndman & Graeme Milne wrote and published the novel "Figure of Eight" in 2010, with an original script showing a Clipper lighter as the main character and telling his life in the first person.

External links

• Flamagas website
• Clipper website
• Super Lighter
• Ligher USA
• The Streets website
• Anna Hyndman Figure of 8 website

References

1. ^ http://www.flamagas.com/htm
2. ^ http://www.clipper.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=47&limit=27
3. ^ http://www.flamagas.com/eng/encendedores.htm
4. ^ http://www.flamagas.com/eng/electronica.htm
5. ^ http://the-streets.co.uk/