2009年11月26日木曜日

Can CAD design professional scissors?

This was several months ago. I was talking to a hairdresser when I was having my hair cut.

He said hairdressers buy their own scissors all by themselves. Barber shops don't contribute any money for their scissors. I was very surprised when he said their professional scissors cost as much as 100 thousand yen(= one thousand dollars).

"Wow! That's amazing! I've never seen such expensive scissors. How are they different from cheap ones?" I asked.
"Well, feeling of the scissors in my hands matters, I think." he answered.
"Can you tell the difference?"
"Sure! They're absolutely different. I can tell by just gripping them."

I'm always impressed by craftsmen's stories like this. I imagined they had developed sharp sense of touch in their hands, and they wanted to use special scissors which can be maneuvered precisely. And of course, there were other craftsmen making special scissors for hairdressers.

"I'm curious. What is the concrete difference?"
"Cheap scissors seem to have a bad distribution of weight. And ... good ones' shape is designed in great detail and sophisticated."
Then he showed me his scissors. The shape of the handle had smooth and subtle curves, which wouldn't be noticed without his explanation.
"This subtle dent fits my finger when I use it in this position."
He explained this by pretending to cut hair. The hairdresser talking about his own tool looked really happy.

He said their scissors were semi-custom made. They chose each part and assembled their own scissors. I had believed that scissors were manufactured under mass production, but their professional scissors were not. I guessed the industry of these professional scissors was completely different from the industry of cheap stationery scissors in terms of culture, logistics, and the process of design.

I'm interested in these designs of artifacts because I develop CAD software. I can't help wondering whether the shape can be designed with CAD.

It's easy to answer whether the shape can be represented with CAD. The answer is "Yes".
But it's difficult to answer whether the scissors can be designed with CAD. We can't say yes easily although the shape can be represented with CAD, because it's difficult for computers to transfer feel of scissors' weight and texture.

However, I want to try such CAD.

I wonder what the scissors designers are concerned about while they are designing. I think they aren't concerned about the scissors but about the hands gripping the scissors. In my opinion, to design scissors is to design the hands gripping the scissors. They must be concerned to navigate hairdressers' hands via the scissors.

This is what design is. To design a bottle of water is to design a shape of water in the bottle. To design a shoe is to design a foot in the shoe. To design something is to design the relation between the target and its surroundings.

Can CAD design professional scissors? I want to be able to say "Yes" someday.

2 件のコメント:

  1. Yeah it true that professional scissors are much expensive than stationary scissors because these are made with high steel ,high cobalt steel or titanium.These are extraordinary in sharpness smooth in cutting so that is why these are much expensive than ordinary scissors.I also use Hattori Hanzo professional shears and scissors because of those features which I mentioned above

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  2. Thank you for your comment.
    Wow! Hattori Hanzo! You know, he is one of the most famous Japanese Ninja. I'm really impressed by the name of the brand.

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