The space race in 2021 is a little different than the one between the U.S. and Russia that began in the 1950s. Today, it’s a race between billionaires reaching for the stars and beyond.
Enter into that mix a space-themed mission from French luxury product maker S.T. Dupont, which sails into the market with its Space Odyssey collection featuring two limited-edition packages of lighters and writing instruments, the Prestige and the Premium.
The goods are threaded with the grand designs of space exploration.
The collection is designed using lacquer, palladium, and micro-engravings. All pieces are crowned by a globe in transparent glitter-sprinkled resin. On the rocket-shaped lighter and writing instruments, a galaxy effect is given to the natural lacquer with the use of a pearlescent spray on a black background and an iridescent spot of glittery lacquer. These pieces are crowned by a globe in transparent glitter-sprinkled resin. The cap of the lighter features a radar and each of the four corners of the body are decorated with palladium engravings of solar blankets.
The writing set comes with a base recalling the launch pad of a rocket before take-off, and an inkwell in addition to a fountain pen and a roller ball.
Designers and engineers at S.T. Dupont used the galaxy, space missions, rocket design and space suits for inspiration. Some packages include a set of yellow, gold and palladium astronaut-shaped cufflinks. All the products, except for cufflinks, are presented in black lacquered boxes.
While some might recall NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, Space Odyssey wants to take its patrons into the 21st century.
“Right now, we have the privatization of space with Bezos, Musk and Branson going to space, in front of everybody,” said Les Mann, VP of sales at S.T. Dupont. He recalls growing up in a time that kids dreamed of being astronauts and any rocket launch drew a wide television audience.
Today, the private missions have likewise drawn millions of viewers, albeit via iPads, streaming and space-specific portals.
“The fascination of space is still on everybody’s mind,” Mann said, adding that the modern design of the Space Odyssey packages is in keeping with today’s futuristic space travel.
“I was watching Musk’s takeoff, then Googled the Apollo 13 instrument panel,” he said. “And now, they’re using an iPad for the instruments.”
The collections will be released in October.
