Master airbrush artist to releasing 250 collectible lighters

Claudio Mazzi, a world renowned airbrush artist will be releasing an assortment of 250 collectible lighters on Friday, October 8th at 5pm.

Mazzi, who lives and works in Modena, Italy, began airbrushing original works of art onto Zippo lighters in 1996, after a chance meeting with the president of Zippo Italia, Zippo’s exclusive distributor in Italy. 

His designs caused a sensation in the Zippo collector community, winning first place at the 1996 Zippo Swap Meet Design competition and setting record high bids at the swap meet auction.

At the swap meet in 2000, Mazzi came to Bradford to give live demonstrations, proving that the meticulous work was indeed created with his nimble hand and airbrush tools alone. Mazzi has returned to Bradford on several occasions, in addition to attending international lighter swap meets, and is an avid Zippo collector.

Mazzi is a founding member of Zippo Club Italia, an international group for Zippo lighter enthusiasts. 

In 2006, Mazzi signed an agreement with Zippo to begin reproducing a few select designs using Zippo’s color printing process. He continues to regularly produce new pieces for the Zippo catalogs, his designs now rendered in Zippo’s modern Color Imaging Process.

Mazzi, in addition to his Zippo lighter pieces, has also done works for the brands Ducati, Maserati, and Ferrari, as well as British and Saudi Arabian royalty and other heads of state and motorcycle racing stars.

A sweepstakes to win a Mazzi hand painted lighter will be held on September 27th at 9:00 AM and October 7th at 11:59 PM.

To enter the sweepstakes or purchase one of the collectible lighters, go to www.zippo.com.