Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far, it’s because you have in your hands an original hand-painted “Powerflames” CLIPPER® lighter by Oscars Moreno.
This lighter has been manually illustrated over a long period of time by the artist.
It’s a technique that has been trained for many years and it’s quite a feat to represent an illustration on the curved and cylindrical surface of a lighter.
That’s why we appreciate that you have acquired this piece that values the artistic work it entails.
Thank you very much.
My Story: If you have doubts about how I started this strange idea of illustrating lighters, I’ll start by saying that it all began back in 1996.
I was in high school, where in technical drawing class and due to my eagerness to draw at every moment, a classmate asked me to paint his lighter.
The result was so striking for my classmates that the next day I had the whole school asking me to “paint their lighter”.
For a while, I managed to go out on weekends with the money raised by selling these personalized lighters during the week.
Back then, young people listened to electronic music, and my favorite group was “The Prodigy”.
Years passed, and I devoted myself to other matters, completely abandoning illustration and this curious hobby.
It wasn’t until 2016, when I started again out of mere curiosity to see how I could still paint on a lighter with a Chinese ink pen. That’s when I came up with the idea of creating an Instagram profile and sharing the hand-drawn illustrations on lighters with the world in general. It didn’t take long to attract the attention of the public, mainly collectors of the lighter brand.
And then, one summer day, my phone rang. They were calling me from an international number, specifically from Italy. When I picked up, the distributor Nº1 of CLIPPER® for this country spoke to me. And in limited Italo-Spanish, I was invited as an artist to one of the most recognized festivals in the Veneto region, “Home Festival”. A festival of music, art, and entertainment focused on all ages and musical genres, and where as an international guest group was, of course, “The Prodigy” 😱.
I couldn’t believe it, my heart was beating in an unusual way, so many years later, and CLIPPER and The Prodigy were together again, it was clear that some kind of enigmatic magic had taken effect years later.
I met the band members in person and part of the organization, I was able to give them a set of personalized lighters, and I maintained a relative contact with the main component and my own idol, Liam Howlett. Who months after the event reacted via Instagram to a funny cartoon that I drew of the band, and who contacted me directly to request a copy of the same design.
For a while, I caught the attention of the group’s fans with different illustrations that I managed to commercialize in poster format and other merchandising items. Some of these designs were given to the group since they participated again as main artists in the 2018 edition, and where I recreated the same magic for the second time!
I participated three times in Home Festival in the cities of Venice and Treviso and also in another festival created by the same organization, called CORE Festival.
I have also participated in FREAKCON Malaga during the 2020, 2022 and now 2023 editions. Where I feel very identified customizing unique lighters with themes about manga characters, anime, superheroes, and characters from series and movies that I love.
After the passing of one of the main members of the band (Keith Flint) and subsequently due to the global situation that occurred since 2020, I have not created any new art related to The Prodigy nor have there been any more editions of the festival in Italy.
These lighters are only available during my participation in these types of events and I do not sell them online or take orders outside of these exhibitions or others that may arise with similar characteristics.
Take care of your lighter because it is unique on earth, in a moment in humanity where digital reproductions are totally possible and where there are fewer and fewer possibilities of obtaining an object with handmade, original, and unique art.
Do not use it to light cigarettes (although you can), do not carry it on the street, especially not in your pocket with keys and coins. Although its surface is varnished, the lacquer it carries may be sensitive to certain scratches.
Its place is a space where you can observe it, just like the photo of someone you love, or a nice figure that was given to you, or something similar. Use it to light celebration candles or to light incense to perfume your home, use it to ritualize with love in your family and friends’ gatherings. Its place is a space where you can have it on hand when visitors come and you can tell them how a crazy artist from Malaga hand-painted that lighter just for you ♡.
A part of this story is now with you and remains alive while the flame burns.
