Zippo and Street Artist Ben Eine Create 17,500 Square Metre Mural in East London

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Marketing | January 23, 2018 | News

Zippo

Zippo and acclaimed street artist Ben Eine recently unveiled a huge 17,500 square metre street mural. Depicting the word “CREATE” the artwork came to life on a truly unconventional canvas: a sparse, industrial ground space in East London spanning 17,500 square metres. 
 


The compelling video captures Eine taking on his biggest, most unpredictable, project to date and highlights the challenging path to create a large scale painting on the ground. With the epic feat only entirely viewable from great heights, Zippo and Eine secured satellite footage and used the power of drones to capture the creative journey.  

The huge artwork required 2,850 litres of recycled paint, a 200-litre bathtub for mixing, 18-inch wide rollers and a team of 30 supporting volunteers and six artists. Due to the sheer scale of the piece, Eine could only check the progress of the artwork with the use of drone footage.
 
Co-founder and CEO of Global Street Art, Lee Bofkin, comments: “The last decade has seen an explosion in the number of street art murals around the world. We've helped organise nearly 2,000 murals because we, like so many others, passionately believe in the power of a unique canvas. Painting on the ground at scale is extremely challenging and this mural truly sets a new standard for scale and skill.”
 
A master of messages, Eine is famous for the large, colourful letters and phrases he paints onto city streets across the globe. For this latest piece, he painted the word ‘CREATE’, a nod to self-expression, and the Zippo brand mission to celebrate art in all its forms.
 
Ben Eine commented: “I love to paint and beautify the most unexpected of places – I’ve painted everything from doorways to trains but have always wanted to do something really huge and different. Painting on the ground was a cool challenge because you can’t just stand back and see what you’re doing. We used drones, string and all sorts to make sure it looked how I imagined, and check that it was spelt right! Seeing the final satellite footage was amazing, I got to create a unique stamp on my home town – a pretty awesome achievement”.
 
Months in the making, and live for an indefinite time, the artwork serves as a stark reminder of the transient nature of street art. The collaboration will culminate in the permanent capture of the momentous work on a limited edition Zippo windproof lighter – a canvas that lasts a lifetime. 
 
Lucas Johnson, Global Brand Manager at Zippo, said: “Zippo lighters have long served as a canvas for art. Our lighter designs are ever changing and have earned us an enthusiastic collector base across the world. By capturing Ben’s most challenging work on an iconic windproof lighter we continue to shine a light on unconventional art and celebrate creativity in all its forms”. 
 
For 85 years, Zippo has brought unmatched levels of artistic talent to the smallest of canvases – from the early years of etching and hand-painted details to today’s cutting edge 360 MultiCut engraving process. With more than 300,000 designs created since 1932, the Zippo X Ben Eine partnership marks another move by the brand to showcase the diversity of their windproof lighter range.
 
Zippo and Ben Eine meticulously recorded all elements of the artwork and welcome global record bodies to officiate the feat.