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IMO these novel scissors don't really represent the achievements of Japanese scissor-making. The market for high-quality hairdressing and barbering scissors and tailoring shears is now almost completely dominated by Japanese manufacturers.

There are two makers left in Sheffield (William Whitely and Ernest Wright), a handful remain in Solingen, but Japan has dozens of high-end scissor manufacturers. It's a remarkable niche success story, built on a careful combination of design innovation and traditional craftsmanship.



30 min documentary that goes into these sort of artisanal scissors in Japan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE


Well thank you, I know feel compelled to spend unnecessary amounts of money.


This video was that I thought the original link would be about. BEGIN Japanology is an incredible series.


Came here to post this.


To wit:

https://www.mizutani-scissors.com/en/

If you're in the market for a $900 hair shear.


There's a few YouTube videos about the Ernest Wright factory. From memory, one details how elderly, master scissor makers were staying on well last retirement age in order to pass the skills onto a new generation of apprentices. I found it fascinating.


This one I loved, though could be my background working in a proper 'shop. https://vimeo.com/98953952


While I have not tried many “brand” scissors, a Finnish Fiskars has really good ones.


I remember these as the "good scissors" on my grandmother's sewing table that I was not allowed to use. She had several pairs that were passed down through generations, some that predate the famous "orange" handles from the 60s. I've not used a modern pair to know how they compare but wondered if they were riding on the name like Kitchen-Aid, Craftsman etc, or were actually still high quality.




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