Monday, June 11, 2007

An Important Anniversary!


I was excited to find this headline in today's Vasabladet (the local Swedish-language newspaper): Orange Classic Turns 40! (I love the orange and 60s turquoise in the photo, too.)

Fiskars was founded in Finland, although they are now headquartered in Wisconsin. (I didn't know about the Finland connection until I moved here last year.) Among other things, there are Fiskars potato peelers and garden rakes for sale here. The orange handles are a Fiskars trademark and they were the first scissor-handles that were made from plastic and were ergonomic. Apparently over 900,000,000 of these orange handled beauties have been sold! (I imagine that a few are owned by readers of this blog!)

I spent the weekend in/around Umeå, Sweden in part to do some genealogy research. It's just about 100km from Vaasa to Umeå by ferry. Below is a photo from Kont looking southeast back at Finland about 10pm yesterday evening.

Quilt update soon!

11 comments:

Lisa K. said...

I just used a pair of those scissors a couple of minutes ago!

When I was very small, maybe 4 or 5, I was with my mom at a fabric shop. One of the ladies there must have seen me eyeing the Orange Classics because she told me never to play with them: I could cut my thumb off!

Needless to say, I gave those tings a wide berth for almost the entire remainder of my childhood. Such a graphic image! And that was before I knew the real value of opposable thumbs.

dot said...

Thank-you for the lesson on Fiskars. I have always loved these orange handled scissors. Not only becuase the handle is organe, my favorite color, but becuse they are great scissors. I did not know the Finland or Wisconsin link, which I am half Finn and born in Wisconsin. Only more reason to like the scissors. Thanks.

Libby said...

I have done my part to contribute to the Fiskars sales numbers *s*

Quilts And Pieces said...

Well I had no idea they were founded in Finland! How about that! And yes, I've bought my share of Fiskars!

Anonymous said...

No matter where you go, there's a quilt connection! (And how on earth do you sleep in the daylight???)

Unknown said...

I too have had several pairs of fiskars scissors like that - I even conned my sister into buying me new pair when I started to make her wedding dress 21 years ago :o)

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

I have Fiskars, or course, in my sewing room-- but also as garden shears and Fiskars rotary cutters, too. I had no idea they were 40 years old! I think of them as a relatively new product. But then, I'm OLD!! :)

Jenni said...

I love the light in that photo - it must be weird having daylight so late. I live much closer to the equator than you, so the latest it gets dark in summer is about 6.30pm.

Unknown said...

I had Fiskars for many years with the handle broken, my sister always made joke of it which I couldn´t accept ;( it only made me more determined not to throw them away and kept on using them.

Clare said...

I love my Fiskars kitchen scissors. Have had them for years. I keep on meaning to replace my cheap black painted handle shearing scissors with lovely Fiskars ones. Will do one day I suppose.

Anonymous said...

I love my Fiskars, too. We've had several pairs since my childhood and I won't buy any other brand. To think of it, we have quite many Fiskar's products at home: shears, shovels, 2 axes, a garden fork (LOVE the ergonomic design)... -and I didn't know about the Wisconsin part, I hadn't realised Fiskars was no longer a Finnish company :( (Instead, I was happy last week, after hearing that Fiskars is going to buy Iittala from the Italian management)