Finland is menage to brands like Marimekko and Artek , and has produced architects and designer like Alvar Aalto and Eero Saarinen . But you do n’t need to go shopping or visit Saarinen ’s Gateway Arch in St. Louis , Missouri , to fully appreciate the nation ’s intent legacy . All you likely have to do is open a kitchen drawer , power water closet , or service department toolbox and rive out a pair of orangish , plastic - handled scissors .
Even if you do n’t immediately recognize the Jehovah — Fiskars Corporation , the Finnish consumer commodity companionship — you’ve belike used these lightweight shear at least once while sewing , gardening , or wrapping presents . More than 1 billion pairs have been sold since they first hit the grocery in 1967 , and in Finland , the word “ Fiskars ” is even synonymous with scissors . Their ubiquity , though , is n’t without ground : As the earth ’s first plastic - handled scissors , they ’re considered a game - changer in the theater of operations of industrial design .
Scissorsare belike thousandsof eld old , and were used by everyone from the ancient Egyptians to members of China ’s Tang Dynasty ( 618 to 907 CE ) . Fiskars itself — which was founded in 1649 , in Fiskars Village , Finland — has manufactured the tools for centuries . The firebrand was once known for forge calibre metal scissors that were used in tailor-make clothes and upholstering furniture . But these tools were “ quite , quite heavy , ” and cumbersome to practice , Jay Gillespie , the company ’s vice president of marketing , tells Mental Floss .
This changed in the 1960s , as plastic was just start to become a popular cloth . Fiskars start using the light , strong compound to make tabletop and dish , but one of the company ’s industrial designers , Olof Bäckström , sense an chance to completely reinvent one of the companionship ’s signature goods . Using credit card , he created a lighter scissor handle that was curved to outfit the hand , thus making them easier to hold . at long last , this tweak also helped make the scissors grip soft to manufacture , help them become affordable to the masses .
With a exclusive prototype , “ we all redefine a product , ” Gillespie say . “ Today it ’s very hard to discover scissors that do n’t have plastic handles . ”
Bäckström did n’t technically manufacture the concept of ergonomically designed scissors , as Fiskars had been roll like innovation in metal for eld , Gillespie says . However , the clothes designer “ probably use up it to the next level , ” he concludes , as he “ solved the problem of weight and primed . ”
Bäckström originally want his scissors to be black . But at the sentence , Fiskars was ready orangish juicers from — you guessed it — orangeness plastic . The first prototype for charge card - deal scissor grip was created with charge plate from a toper that was left in a machine . Fiskars employee ended up like this original look so much that they ultimately voted to stick with it .
Save for a few minor tweaks , like a more long-lasting plastic handle and an improved slant , the scissors grip ’s original designing has remained largely unaltered since Bäckström ’s initial stroking of genius . They eventually became so iconic that competitors began copying their look , pressure the Finnish companionship to trademark their touch “ Fiskars Orange . ” Today , Fiskars is the only steel in the populace that ’s provide to manufacture orange tree - handled scissors in the U.S. , Canada , and Finland , according to Gillespie .
For all these reasons — and to punctuate the production ’s 50th birthday in 2017 — the Design Museum Helsinki has created an ongoing exhibition that celebrates the utilitarian menage raw material . The “ Our Scissors ” exhibition , which stop on October 29 , features works by artists and designers who employ ( or merely prize ) Orange River - cover scissors . They admit contributions from fashion designer Tracy Reese , Design*Sponge father Grace Bonney , and other creative influencers , all of whom sing the praises of a lilliputian Finnish tool that ended up take the world by violent storm .
