Zippo Lighters

A poem about Zippo lighters, who are the perfect embodiment of themselves.  Whose simplicity of assembly, function, and use produce the quality which philosophy calls Telos.  If we people Telos with human qualities of God, then within that heavenly place there must certainly be a Zippo for every Free Borne Man, that we could all participate in the quest for perfection, in the quest for the perfect embodiment and it’s self, and through it’s use: our selves.  The manufacturing process of it’s body has been refined for so long through time that it has become a flawless element of my surroundings, it has become not only ubiquitous, it has become in-corporeal, The manufacturing process is a statement of art.  This is How It’s Made, it is assembly lines of wooden match factories with classical music in the background.  The items exist flawlessly in their surroundings, products of their elements, harmonies -- the bent and folded and stamped, and perforated and hinged body of the stainless steel.  It is a good design when it can be manufactured in the millions anywhere in the world.  So simple.  Product of Design.  The instructions and warnings are posted on the side of the interior piece, so they are not visible until you pull it out to refill -- they are stamped from raw steel, lightly into the site.  They are of a “greater order” of possibility when compared to a bic lighter: misanthropic pieces of shit that everyone hates...at the store, while buying this Zippo Lighter, in fact, a fellow patron remarked that “it has been forever since she has seen a Zippo Lighter”, how she loved those damned things, compared to “those bic’s, man I lost so many of those ugly bics, with a zippo you can keep it”.  I laugh.  She says: “I am glad you are so happy, enjoy your zippo”.   And this is the second time that a fellow patron in a convenience store had remarked to me at a store -- I mean: this was the second time I was in a convenience store within the last month, it was also the second time that our conversation had been focused on the celebration of the two well designed products of our modern culture: glass Coke Bottles and Zippo Lighters.  Both interactions were about the other patrons memories, i.e “Man, it has been so long since I’ve drank coke from a bottle: I loved those thing, so cool and crisp: tastes so different from the glass.”, and involved their reminiscence.  The only two interactions: this is how relevant design is in the world. Those things which are not Coke or Zippos, are not yet well enough designed: those buildings which are not yet as great as the Barcelona Pavilion, as flawless as the Farnsworth House are simply not being well designed.  If the world around us were better designed, we would call it more positive words. This is Design: to efficiently structure a system of semiosys (acts and deeds) through time which are affirmative of your values at every step.  Never compromising on one step of your products reality.   Design is communication.  Design is the system of signification which connects system together.  It is the orchestration of material form through time, with eye to details at every step: from harvesting to disposal: being engaged and making the form of an object the result of an effect: a something "more" borne out of it's artful proof of existence: the Zippo saying: "yes I am a valid object: I am Art. There is very little that has hitherto been as well designed as a coke bottle and a Zippo lighter.