Tsubota Pearl

Tsubota Pearl is a family-owned lighter manufacturer, operated by a single family with deep roots in the lighter industry since its inception in 1952, focusing on bespoke manufacturing. The Tsubota family has deep roots in the lighter industry. Founder, Hiroshi Tsubota worked for a jewelry and smoking products manufacturer in the Tokyo in the 1930s. At that time, he met his wife, Fujiko Onozawa; daughter of a lighter and cigarette-case factory proprietor. Hiroshi went independent in 1952, founding Tsubota Pearl. Their son Eiichi “Hank” Tsubota is the current director of the company. Tsubota Pearl’s lighters are mechanical and take maintenance and care to operate. The Tsubota family thinks they have a certain presence as objects, and perhaps give more weight to the act of producing a fire, which can often be taken for granted. The more a Tsubota Pearl product is used, the more it becomes your own, developing an individual patina.