Our Story

 

Some of the best collections begin with a single spark.

For me, that spark came when my son started skateboarding at just three years old. Like many parents, I wanted to share something I loved with him. I had grown up skating during the 1980s, an era many consider the golden age of skateboarding. Before long, I found myself collecting the boards I had admired as a kid, and what started as a hobby gradually became a lifelong passion.

Collecting runs in the family.

My father, Bill Burke, spent his retirement pursuing his own passion: Zippo lighters. He didn’t just collect a few—he immersed himself in the hobby, building an incredible collection and forming friendships with fellow collectors from around the world. Watching him enjoy the community surrounding Zippo collecting left a lasting impression on me.

Those two worlds unexpectedly came together when I discovered that NHS—the company behind legendary skateboard brands like Santa Cruz, Independent, Creature, and OJ Wheels—had begun licensing their iconic artwork for official Zippo lighters.

I knew immediately that I wanted to be part of it.

Thanks to my father’s connections, I was introduced to a Zippo distributor who helped me turn that idea into reality. Rather than simply selling existing products, I began ordering other exclusive NHS designs, which required special orders with minimum production runs of 30 pieces, so I started small—ordering just two new designs at a time.

As each design sold through and I recovered my investment, every dollar of profit went right back into creating the next two designs. One release became two, then four, then dozens. Slowly, the collection grew into the largest selections of officially licensed skateboard Zippo lighters available anywhere.

Then, in late 2024, everything changed.

Zippo and NHS announced that their licensing partnership would be coming to an end. Knowing this was likely my last opportunity, I placed one final order for every remaining special-run design I could produce and purchased the remaining inventory of the catalog designs still available from Zippo.

What started as a passion project had suddenly become a chance to preserve a unique piece of skateboard history.

Today, I’m proud to offer these officially licensed Zippo lighters to skateboard collectors, Zippo enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates the legendary artwork that helped define generations of skateboarding.

This business has never been about selling lighters.

It’s about celebrating the graphics, the brands, the memories, and the culture that inspired so many of us to step on a skateboard in the first place.

If you own or represent a skateboard brand and would like to explore bringing your graphics to life on authentic Zippo lighters using Zippo’s state-of-the-art factory printing process, I’d love to hear from you.