I am starting off the New Year with a design that I really like. Seeing as you hold this product in your hand when you use it, there is a connection to the product that means that you feel good about it, or dislike it. There really isn’t any middle ground here. What am I talking about?
The humble scissors. How many times have you been frustrated by a pair of scissors that fold what you are trying to cut, instead of cutting? I know that I have, lots of times.
Or even worse, the finger holes are plastic, moulded onto the metal blades, but with the wrong material, or a poorly designed integration, and the plastic breaks away from the metal leaving a worthless piece of junk behind.
Well today,
the feature design is a Finnish product, made by Fiskars of Finland.
What makes this product design outstanding in my mind? The comfort of the fit with my hand, and the way that the blades cut.
When you pick up these scissors they just feel good. Now maybe that is just because I have the same sized hands as the designer, but my wife who has much smaller hands also says that they are comfortable and easy to use. The second thing is that the blades were designed in such a way as to ensure that the blades always are in contact. The blades are curved in a plane at right angles to the cutting edge. The pivot point is designed so that the pivot axle does not loosen after repeated use. The plastic is tough enough to resist the forces that are applied to the scissors when cutting even tough material like thick plastic packaging. In addition the plastic moulding encases the pivot point as well.
A+ for this design, in my humble opinion, well done Fiskars, well done indeed.