Stefano Ricci SR Dual Flame Lighter — Nail Polish Green / Gold

Stefano Ricci SR Dual Flame Lighter — Nail Polish Green / Gold

Green is the color of the natural world at its most abundant — of forest canopy in full summer, of the surface of malachite and emerald, of the patina that copper and bronze develop over time when left to the atmosphere. In the decorative arts it has been among the most technically difficult colors to achieve with both purity and stability: green pigments that were vivid tended to be toxic, and green pigments that were safe tended toward muddy. The viridian greens of the Impressionists, the chrome greens of the Victorian period, the malachite greens of Sèvres porcelain — each represents a technical solution to the problem of how to make green do what emerald does in nature, which is to be saturated and pure without turning toward blue or yellow.

Stefano Ricci achieves it here with nail polish — a medium formulated for maximum chromatic saturation at small scale, which delivers a green with the depth and richness that the color demands when it is used well. This is not the cautious green of an object hedging toward grey or brown; it is fully committed to the chromatic register that makes green interesting.

Green / Gold

The combination of green and gold has its own decorative history: the emerald and gold of Byzantine jewelry, the malachite and ormolu of Russian Empire furniture, the verdant fields and golden charges of heraldic design. Green and gold occupy different positions on the color wheel — cool and warm — and the contrast gives each color more definition than adjacency would. On an object at the scale of a lighter, the pairing reads as assured and unusual without being restless.

Dual Flame System

The lighter operates with two flame modes — soft flame for table use, torch flame for outdoor conditions. Both modes available from a single piece.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.