About us
Welcome to
The Lighterhouse
One of the world’s leading vintage lighter boutiques, The Lighterhouse was founded in The Netherlands in 2020.
Every lighter is sourced, restored and listed from our location in the historical center of Delft.
Our partner
Driven by passion:
An introduction
My name is Max Meijster, and I am currently a student at the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands, as well as the mind behind The Lighterhouse.
My passion for lighter started in 2018 with my very first Zippo. not long after I bought a vintage lighter (IMCO Triplex) at an antique market, and started restoring it. It was one of my most priced possesions and kickstarted the journey of collection.
I wish to inspire more people to collect and appreciate vintage lighters, how plain and simple they may seem at first. I wish to share my passion for lighters. What I enjoy most is collecting lighters from all sorts of obscure places and refurbishing them, as well as interacting with my customers – my fellow enthusiasts.
From Collecting
to Sharing Passion
My passion and interest grew exponentially. From just a single lighter my collection grew to a moderate 60 lighters in two years. But it wasn’t just me, I also noticed people in my surroundings picked up my interest. It didn’t matter where I was, at the train station, outside the pub, or at work, lighting a fire with one of my many lighters always sparked the interest of those people around me. I was stunned by how everyone was so intrigued by my lighters.
The collecting of lighters grew to a new height: I was selling my lighters to make room for more. I started trading in collecting Zippos and IMCO to rarer pieces like vintage Thorens, Dunhills, Ronsons, and many more. I started trading under a name: The Lighterhouse. And from there it all started.
A new Chapter:
Delft
2022 made me start my study of mechanical engineering at the TU Delft. With this, The Lighterhouse moved to a historically rich city center, surrounded by churches and canals. This promised to be a whole new start for The Lighterhouse, and my hobby became my “side hustle”. A brand new logo, a new website to share my findings on lighters, and the start of The Lighterhouse selling on Etsy. My interest in antiques shifted to the luxurious side of lighters: I would stock Dunhill, Cartier, and S.T. Dupont lighters from now on. And interest grew among our customers!
2023:
over 300 Sales:
2023 was a year of huge growth: With over 300 vintage lighters sold and 100+ 5-star reviews on Etsy. The Lighterhouse also became a Vetted Seller on 1stDips; a high-end online platform for the most extraordinary design. These accomplishments made us able to grow the scale of our business and stock a larger inventory with even rarer pieces.
2024:
A Look into the Future
2024 carries fundamental changes for the Lighterhouse. This will finally be the year that www.TheLighterhouse.com will open its webshop. www.TheLighterhouse.com has always been a blog for collectors to learn more about their lighters, and all sales of lighters would go through Etsy. But now I’m happy to say that we have outgrown the platform of Etsy and would of course rather invest the commissions that Etsy takes in our website and marketing. 1stDips will still list our most extraordinary pieces in the future, and items can be bought on both platforms. Let us see what the future will bring us, and what stories we can unravel. You will find it all here, at The Lighterhouse.