The original lightsaber wielded by Luke Skywalker in the first 1977 instalment — a remarkably budget production compared to its lavish follow-ups — was little more than the handle of an old Graflex camera flash.

Those retro flashes have now become notoriously hard to source thanks to Star Wars fans. The most expensive fan-built lightsaber replicas which feature original Graflex handles have sold for as much as $15,000 on eBay.

Tsai first fell for Star Wars as a teenager and his quest for a realistic lightsaber prompted him to study electro-optical engineering and then work in that industry until he became a full-time lightsaber maker over a decade ago.

Tsai said he constantly researches to make his lightsabers “brighter, more durable and easier to manoeuver” so they can be used in fencing, which he has been promoting in Taiwan with regular duels.