See our latest collectible featuring Roger Hane’s Don Quixote watercolor artwork on the High Polish Brass Zippo lighter with color imaging as the imprint method.  It includes an insert card of explanation what the verse says on the lid and an explanation about Don Quixote on the back of this card.  Roger Hane, artist, was from Bradford, PA and was killed in Central Park, New York City in 1974.  Throughout his professional career, he produced over 300 published illustrations for many of the major publishing houses, magazines and record companies.  His style was outside the ordinary, touching on the surreal, fantasy movement of the early 1900’s.  He came from a rare class of illustrators and was nationally and internationally renown.  There are paperback and hard back copies available of the book on Roger Hane entitled “Roger Hane Art, Times and Tragedy” at the Roseart store.   

New Website and new products!  Please take an opportunity to surf through our newly updated website.  Thanks to Protocol80, Inc. we’re looking more like the 21st century and hopefully your transactions will go smoothly.  While we are still adding products and moving things around, we’d love to get some feedback from you the consumer.  How does it work for you?  Any comments or suggestions are welcome.  Please add to this blog!  Thanks, Kelly

From now through Valentine’s Day, Roseart will be giving 10% off items.  This is a website sale only.  Enter promo code 02142010 to get this discount.  Get your discount while this offer lasts!

As a child growing up in northwestern Pennsylvania, I was always fascinated with the beauty of nature. The green, yellow, orange, red and purple colors within the various leaves of an autumn forest or country side were awesome. The dazzling white snow on a clear crisp winter day painted with the bluish gray shadows of naked trees along the side of a mountain were breathtaking. The huge billowy white and gray clouds against the deep blue sky, speckled with the contrasting black images of migrating geese and other birds were truly inspirational to me. Today nature continues to be very inspirational as I search for subject matter to use within my oil paintings.

Although landscapes were not the primary focus of the art created during my childhood, the fascination with details, so much a part of my paintings today, began within the hills surrounding the small city of Bradford, Pennsylvania. Portraits of people were probably my first challenge as I began my artistic career. At that time, proportions were my greatest challenge. Color wasn't always necessary as I pursued my early passion of drawing. Through a careful study of the human form I began to develop a very keen awareness of various details on skin and hair, patterns and color changes within a persons eyes or on various articles of clothing. Details became almost an obsession for me.

Today my media of choice is oil painting. Color and value have now become as important as lines, shapes, patterns and textures. The choice of subject matter is always changing. Although I consider myself a "Realist" in style, in content, I try to choose everyday or common subjects that are detailed enough to force the viewer to study my compositions a little longer than they would normally. I am trying to help the viewers to become more aware of the world around them. Our normal day to day world is filled with very abstract images and details that most people take for granted and don't look at long enough to recognize or appreciate. It is my primary purpose as a painter to point out these details in order to help them enjoy the world a little more.

He is a Chelsea Global 2006 Competition Winner and his winning Oil on Canvas “Gurley Street” can be seen at http://www.amsterdamwhitneygallery.com/art_acquisitor.html go to page 52 to see his art. Also, he is an award winner of the Allied Artists of America Award in the Grand National Exhibition in 2007 from the American Artists Professional League Inc. His artwork entitled “Window Shopping” can be seen at www.americanartistsprofessionalleague.org/grandnational2007.htm.

PHONE
- If calling from within NZ

     03-355-3232 or mob 027-460-3765

- From outside of NZ

     0064-3-355-3232 or mob 0064-27-460-3765

EMAIL free_spirit07@hotmail.com

THE BACKGROUNDS

Paul

Paul was born in Wellington,New Zealand in 1965 & spent a lot of his 20's travelling & living overseas.
"With an all consuming passion for lettering & design from birth, I started teaching myself calligraphy (the art of beautiful handwriting) age 14. I later moved on into graphic design and then engraving which led to decorative sandblasting."
During his creative career he has been involved in 2 group exhibitions & has pieces exhibited in galleries around New Zealand.
His other hobbies include playing the Highland bagpipes (as well as being well passionate about all the other breeds of bagpipes),other wind-blown instruments,reading,& is currently embarking on the long slow path of teaching himself chisel engraving.

Martine

Martine was born in the north of France in 1959, & later moved down to live in Toulon on the French Riviera in the south of France.She has also travelled widely & has a great love of architecture and design.
"Over the years my design has taken me through lots of different mediums including dot paintings, painted woodware, fashion design and kitchen design. I met Paul and then WOW!"
Since migrating to New Zealand in 2001 & marrying Paul, Martine took to decorative sandblasting like a duck to water & has pieces displayed in galleries around New Zealand.

THE BUSINESS

Free Spirit was started by Paul in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1998.
"After working for the man for too long I was suffering from creative constipation & decided to take control of my own life. From a tiny start doing unique engraved artwork on Zippo lighters the creative journey exploded with an introduction to sandblasting through a friend in 1999. 2000 - what a year, some travel and then, Martine! - in the smoking lounge of Bangkok airport. With her eye for detail & Mediterranean tastes - What a creative challenge and partnership".

Together we have a commitment to ourselves as artists and also to our clients, to produce unique, handworked & signed pieces.

We love it!

Our motto "In all things be passionate".

Feel free to share our work & website with others.

Paul & Martine.

Sympathy for the Deco

This beautiful table lighter was made by Paul Fleming of New Zealand. Paul's website is http://www.freespirit.net.nz..
Paul is featured in our Famous Artists section as well.
This beauty sold for $365.00 on eBay to a California bidder.

“The Flow”

At the Zippo/Case Swap Meet in July, 2004, the Roseart owners were privileged to meet Paul Fleming from New Zealand. Paul is well known by Zippo Collectors as an artist, who does his beautiful sandblasting creations on Zippo lighters as his canvas. Some might better recognize him as “Free Spirit”. He does all one of a kind design. Ralph and Kelly were thrilled with his work and decided to inquire as to whether Paul would consider creating a masterpiece on a Roseart Table Lighter. Paul was also excited about the idea and took one of the new Vermont Verde table lighters back home with him to create.

A couple months later, Roseart received a beautiful letter and the one of a kind masterpiece back from him. He titled it “The Flow”, which you see pictured here. It is numbered on the bottom number one of one.

Paul and Roseart hope to do more joint creations in the future and offer them for sale.

Many people think of the flame when they think of Zippo lighters. The flame has been part of the Zippo logo for years and is now being recognized as Zippo on its own. Back in the 1960's era, there were orangish plastic flames that were made and used to display Zippo lighters.

At the Zippo/Case Swap Meet in 2002, Roseart displayed some of these original flames that they had found in their archives. Philip M. Rose, the Founder of Roseart, used these flames frequently when displaying his beautiful table lighters. Roseart used them as props in their table lighters at their booth to make the lighters look complete. They created quite a stir amongst the collectors. Enough so that Mark Platko, one of the Roseart owners, decided to try to recreate the original flame. He successfully did so and made a limited edition with packaging of approximately 642 commemorative flames. These flames were debuted at the lighter show held in July 2003 at the Best Western Motel at the PLPG show in Bradford. Again, they were very well received and sold out shortly after this show selling for $8.00 each.

Mark thought why not recreate a brand new flame. The Roseart owners met with Violet Snyder of the Licensing department at Zippo and discussed this opportunity. Zippo blessed the idea and granted the Roseart Company a licensing agreement to use the flame. So Mark went to work on designing the flame to scale with Zippo's Trademark flame based on drawings he received from Zippo.

The final product in a nice licensed package shows the two companies joint effort in the Zippo Collector Display Flames. They sell for $1.95 each and can be purchased at the Roseart Company or on their website www.roseartlighters.com.

The ROSEART Company reopened on April 20, 2002.

The owners are family of the founder, Philip M. Rose. They are: Ralph A. Rose, (son of Philip M. Rose), and his wife Judith Oliver Rose. They are partners with their daughter, Kelly Rose Platko, and her husband Mark Platko. The foursome purchased the company from Philip's estate in 2000.

They have been working with the original inventory and setting up the original showroom located on 12 Lincoln Avenue (shown left). They are also looking into new products with different vendors and various materials. Plans are to produce "new" ROSEART lighters made out of similar materials but with some different designs.

Other new products are being considered such as; gentlemen's trays, coasters, trivets, letter openers and the like.

Products will be sold from the showroom by Personal Appointment, via Telephone at 1-814-362-3030, on the Internet , and eventually in select stores.

They have the love and passion for the product that their Grandfather and Father, Philip M. Rose had, and they hope to make ROSEART a prosperous company again.

The Roseart Company is structured as a Partnership consisting of the following individuals:  Ralph A. Rose, Chairman of the Board; Judith Oliver Rose, Vice President; Kelly Rose Platko, President; and Mark Platko, Treasurer (all pictured at right).

Mr. Ralph A. Rose who makes his home in Derrick City, PA, is the son of the Roseart founder Philip M. Rose. Ralph is married to Judith Oliver Rose (also a partner in the business) and they are the parents of four grown daughters. Mr. Rose is a High School Graduate, a US Army Veteran, and a Graduate of Kimball Union Academy. Currently, Mr. Rose owns and operates Wright Monumental Works Inc. in Bradford. He started working there after his completion of schooling and tour of duty with the U.S. Army. He worked alongside his father, Philip, at both the Wright Monumental and the Roseart Company providing him a great knowledge of the business and the materials of his trade.

Mrs. Judith Oliver Rose, wife of Ralph, is a Graduate of Cazenovia College. She owned and operated Discovery Antiques for 26 years. Currently she works part-time at Wright Monumental Works, Inc.

Mrs. Kelly Rose Platko resides at 1025 High Street in Bradford, PA with her husband Mark and their three daughters. Kelly is the granddaughter of Roseart founder Philip M. Rose. She is a High School Graduate and has completed 30 college credits in Business Management from Jamestown Community College and the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, and she received certification as a Professional in Human Resources from the Society of Human Resource Management. Mrs. Platko worked 23 years at Zippo Manufacturing Company and was the Personnel Manager when she resigned in May 2001 to stay home with her young children. Currently she works part-time at both Companies.

Mr. Mark Platko, husband of Kelly, is a Graduate of Williamsport Trade School. He has worked as an electrician and as an Electrical Inspector. He currently is employed as the Maintenance Manager at Bradford Forest Products in Bradford.

All the partners bring unique expertise and talent to this business enterprise and with the artistic creativity and commitment to quality and customer service, valued by its founder, intend to make Roseart a successful and profitable company once again.

Philip M. Rose had a vision and in 1957 he turned that vision into his new business called Roseart Company. From his experience with working with a variety of marble from all over the world with his family business the Wright Monumental Works, Inc., he knew this beautiful material would make a wonderful combination with George G. Blaisdell's famous Zippo lighters. Mr. Blaisdell agreed to allow Mr. Rose to use Zippo lighters in his table lighters. The product line later became identified and known as "Home and Office Gifts of Lifetime Elegance."

Philip wanted a design that would emphasize the importance of symbolic ornamentation. He had many favorite artists in his lifetime and had acquired many beautiful paintings. In his study of the arts, he read that the Laurel Leaf academically was commonly used in commemorative art and that it was properly appropriate of one who had attained distinction in the arts. As a decorative motif, the Laurel and kindred plant forms remain one of the most beautiful elements of effecting the art of design. The true definition from the American College Dictionary reads "the foliage of the true laurel as an emblem of victory of distinction, honor won, as by achievement. A distinction in the arts." Therefore, he chose to call his original design the "Laurel." The Laurel leaf ornamentation was used in the metal base and at the top of the lighter with the different varieties of marble in the center. He experimented with a lid cover to go over the Zippo lighter to make it look complete. However, he didn't like the look of the lid covering the Zippo lighter and decided to stay with the flowing lines of the original Zippo.

After experimenting, he decided that the Laurel was too heavy and the quality he wanted was cost prohibitive. He then went to work on a more basic base for the bottom
and trim at the top of the table lighter to hold the Zippo lighter. This is when he came out with the four original table lighters that you see in his first sell sheet in 1958. The original four marbles are the Lafayette, Franciscan, Galilee and Vermont Verde.

The four new owners of the Roseart Company are; Ralph A. Rose, Philip’s son who was involved with Roseart with Philip, his wife Judith Oliver Rose, their daughter, Kelly Rose Platko and her husband, Mark Platko. After purchasing the company from Philip’s estate in 2000, they reopened the doors in April 2002. Their first year has been full of research and development.

On July 3, 2003, the four owners were digging through the archives hoping to find some treasures before  National Zippo Day. They were participating in their second lighter show, the PLPG show to be held at the Best Western in Bradford. They had a picture of one of the Vermont Verde Laurel’s that they had found and had placed it on the slide show on their website. They also had found the original pastel artwork of the Laurel that Philip had shown to Mr. Howard Yates, Vice President of Zippo at that time. Mr. Yates signed and dated the artwork in the top right corner showing his approval. The owners hoped that one day they would find that Laurel obscured in the archives. Well they did better than that. Neatly tucked away in a nice taped boxed, simply labeled 1960, which was the year they were packaged and placed in the vault, they found 22 original Laurel lighters. Only 4 of the 22 have the stamp on the bottom that says “patent pending” “Philip M. Rose”. Of the 22, there is only one Norwegian Pink lighter (with a signature), six Franciscan lighters (one with a signature), five Vermont Verde lighters (one with a signature), five Lafayette lighters (one with a signature) and five Galilee lighters. Philip never marketed or sold any of the original Laurels to the best of the new owner’s knowledge.

To say the least, the four were thrilled with this find. Immediately, they had the lighters photographed by Steve Mahon, who does Photography work for Zippo Manufacturing Company.

They started to share their find with collectors before and during this show and the excitement is building. Two lighter collectors, who have been instrumental in getting the owners "fired" up are; Tom "Pyro" Prylinski of Erie, PA and Yuzi Wada of Tokyo, Japan.

Pictured with this article are photographs of four of the Laurels. Philip had them mounted in four different metal finishes; an Antique Brass, Satin Brass, High Polish Brass and Chrome.

An ingenious idea.......the elegance of marble and choice woods, with a genuine Zippo lighter.

Mr. Philip M. Rose, Founder of the ROSEART Co., was born in Bradford, His business as a craftsman, making monuments still thrives today serving the community, which is owned and operated by his son Ralph A. Rose.

In 1957, Philip M. Rose(shown right) started to make what is known today as ROSEART  lighters and accessories. Simplicity is what he wanted in the form of art, and quality also. In the beginning he faced a lot of rejects because of the tooling and machinery needed to bore the cavities in the marbles he was using. By 1959, he had overcome these problems and completed the final touches on the manufacturing of his Lighters.

A Zippo lighter was chosen as an insert because of their quality. Special arrangements were made between Mr. Philip M. Rose and Mr. George G. Blaisdell the inventor of the Zippo Lighter to bring this collaboration to fruition.

"ROSEART" was sold in many of the larger department stores in Chicago, New York, and others. Special orders were also taken for engravings, emblems, signatures, or initials upon request.

These lighters had beauty in design as well as quality, with accessories to match. They made an ashtray and a cigarette box to match your choice of two size lighters.

The marbles used were from exotic places like France, Italy, New England, Norway, and even the Holy Lands.

Mr. Rose chose the names of his lighters quite nicely. The pink marble, imported from France, he called the "Lafayette". When asked where he got the name, he said when he thought of France at the time, the first thing he could think of was a man named Lafayette, so this is where the name came from. The "Black Knight" (right) got its name from France also. A deep red marble from Italy was used to make the "Franciscan". The "Galilee" (left) had a golden beige marble from Nazarethin the Holy Lands. Marbles from the green mountains of New England were used on the "Vermont Verde" lighters.

"ROSEART Forest Treasures" were made from all natural woods, which were high luster polished and burn-proof as well (left). The woods used were all natural like Walnut, Cherry, Mahogany, and some others.

The bases of the lighters were made of metal which could be highly polished or satin finished, and then plated. Brass, Chrome and even Gold Plating were the choices.

The company temporarily closed in 1995 following the death of Philip M. Rose.

You may search long and hard to find a matched set of the original "ROSEART" products today, but when you do find them, you will have found a treasure for a lifetime.