scissors

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Design

Measure Twice, Cut Once: These Playfully Designed Scissors Nestle Three Functions into Geometric Shapes

All images courtesy of Zencix

Part tool and part quirky design object, a trio of scissors by the Japanese manufacturer Zencix package multiple uses into one unusually efficient and playful form. Three geometric models comprise the company’s collection known as Trisqucle, a mishmash of triangle, square, and circle. In addition to their typical cutting capabilities, the steel scissors also have a ruled edge and spherical drawing guides for three-in-one functionality.

Vintage editions dating back to the 80s are floating around online, and you can pick up the modern version from Present&Correct. (via Core77)

Design

The Putter: A Meditative Video on the Art of Making Scissors by Hand

On its most basic level, this is a five minute video of a guy making a few pairs of scissors by hand. But what could have been a mundane shoot of a master craftsman using archaic tools to create common household objects, is completely elevated by filmmaker Shaun Bloodworth into something strikingly beautiful. The film’s subject, Cliff Denton, is one of the world’s last “putters” (literally “a putter togetherer of scissors”) who works at Ernest Wright & Sons in Sheffield, a company that has been hand-making scissors and shears for 112 years. Watch and be transfixed. Is this another example of autonomous sensory meridian response?

Art

Artist Beili Liu Embroiders Underneath Hundreds of Suspended Scissors

Photo by Rino Pizzi

Photo by Blue

Photo by Rino Pizzi

Photo by Christy Cochran

Photo by Art Night Austin

Photo by Art Night Austin

The Mending Project was a 2011 installation and performance art piece by Austin-based artist Beili Liu. The work involved an ongoing process wherein visitors were invited to cut pieces of fabric from a giant cloth upon entering the space, the fragments of which Liu then stitched back together creating a giant patchwork that gradually encircled the artist. The concept seems harmless enough if it weren’t for the ominous array of downward-facing scissors suspended above her workspace.

The installation consists of hundreds of Chinese scissors suspended from the ceiling, pointing downwards. The hovering, massive cloud of scissors alludes to distant fear, looming violence and worrisome uncertainty. The performer sits beneath the countless sharp blades of the scissors, and performs an on-going simple task of mending. […] As each visitor enters the space, one is asked to cut off a piece of the white cloth hung near the entrance, and offer the cut section to the performer. She then continuously sews the cut pieces onto the previous ones. The mended fabric grows in size throughout the duration of the performance, and takes over the vast area of the floor beneath the scissors.

The Mending Project was part of Art Night Austin 2011 and was on display at Women & Their Work Gallery

Art

Scissors Confiscated by the TSA Welded into Spiders

All images © Christopher Locke

Each year the Transportation Security Administration confiscates countless millions of personal objects from travelers prior to entering airport terminals including guns, knives, foodstuffs, aerosol cans, and yes, even small scissors. Sculptor Christopher Locke has capitalized on this endless supply of in-flight contraband by welding the scissors into pretty terrifying spiders that look like something out of a Tim Burton or Brothers Quay film. What I want to know is how many Christopher Locke sculptures are confiscated by the TSA each year and what kind of monstrosity we have to look forward to.