Light My Fire
It started with a stick.
In 1995 our founder, Michael Odqvist, came across an age-old secret - MayaSticks. He was fascinated by the sheer brilliance of this resinous kindling. Not only was it a quick, easy and reliable way to get a fire going, the sticks were also completely natural, produced from waste - the stumps left from felled pine trees - by locals in Guatemala. By starting fair trade production on a larger scale, Michael helped 400 of these descendents of Maya Indians make more money so that they were able to start sending their children to school.
A year later the fire-starters were launched in Sweden. Unfortunately, the timing wasn't right, nobody really understood the product, and we didn't have enough money to market it. It was a complete flop. Extremely frustrating, since we just loved our MayaSticks and truly believed that more people would do so too if they only discovered them...
Ultimate fire-starters.
But it's not in our nature to give up.
Instead, we started investigating alternative ways to sell the MayaSticks.
And in 1996, we found the perfect match - the magnesium fire-starter that was developed and used by the Swedish Army. All of a sudden, everything fell into place. Not only was the Swedish FireSteel a great product in itself, it also was an unbeatable combination with the TinderSticks.
One plus one equaled the ultimate way to start a fire in any weather, at any altitude.
Design with a smile and color.
Finally, we had a firm foundation for our future. But we also realized there was a lot more potential in the outdoor field. Most equipment was plain and drab brown, black and green. With the help of the legendary brand specialist Claes Andréasson (Absolut Vodka) and the successful copywriter Steve Strid, Light My Fire turned into a brand concept. At the same time, Calill Odqvist, Michael's daughter, who had worked for the company since the early days, became our CEO. From then on, premium-quality outdoor products, designed with a smile and a whole palette of color, were our business.