About Us

R&D

Fiskars products are known to combine ergonomics, design, and high-quality materials in a unique way. In addition, the products are easy and safeto use. Through innovative product development, Fiskars aims at strengthening its position on the global market.

At Fiskars, design is team work lead by Chief Designer Olavi Lindén. Lindén, who started his career at Fiskars in 1971, manages the company's team of talented product engineers and industrial designers, whose creative ideas and skills are the source of innovation.

The Tools

«The tool is really an extension of the human hand, » says Olavi Lindén. «You do something with it- it has to work well. » And tools have emerged from his hands, tens if not hundreds, over the past thirty-five years.

In 1971 Lindén, with a fresh degree in engineering, came to the Fiskars scissors factory to work as an assistant to Olof Bäckström, the legendary designer of Fiskars’ orange scissors. His duties were to develop the technology of the scissors, to test blades and to engage in product development, while Bäckström concentrate on the actual design work. But after only couple of weeks, he created his own version of the scissors handles.

In the early 1970s the Fiskars range of products contained only the familiar orange scissors, and Lindén improved their properties almost throughout the whole decade. And then came his first own product: a sharpener for scissors. «A little orange piece with pegs, » recalls Lindén. He got the idea for the pegs from the sharpening of the smoothing blade or scraper used in making violins; the pegs held the blade or the scissors at the right angle for sharpening.

«All tools exist already: the basic implements, that axe and the knife and the spade, » says Lindén. «The same tools are still made at Fiskars as in primitive cultures. But they cannot be replicas of something old, they have to be in some way modern and in some way timeless, to live as long as possible. »

He thinks for a moment and says: «Our products have a 500,000- year life cycle.  »

The Process

The design of a new tool always proceeds from a need. «You can’t just make anything, » says Lindén. «There’s a problem and you start to look for a solution. Or a technical detail that you want to realize in a different way. Everything always starts with the work that is done with the tool: to make it easier. Lighter, more comfortable, more ergonomic. Or if the tool can’t be improved, it is to be made less costly. » But not all things can be done better. Lindén quotes the German designer Alexander Neumeister, who says that the best design is the best compromise.

Lindén develops ideas all the time («There are countless notes, but they tend to get lost all, and then my wife bought a pile of notebooks and there’s usually one on the night table») but he is not in the habit of making detailed drawings. He prefers to go into the workshop and make a model, wood and some quick-setting glue. A model shows a great deal, especially things that cannot be experienced by drawing. And for Lindén making things by hand has always been a way of thinking and designing. Therefore he also values the skills of the hand.

«Right now we were making a cutter handle with a groove and a sting in the groove with a knot in it. It was only with the model that you could test how deep the groove should be so that the knot wouldn’t be felt on the palm; it had to be much deeper than suggested by the drawing, » says Lindén. Moreover, the work proceeded quickly, saving several days, because there was no need for drawings and ordering the work from someone else. It is easy to make alterations. And the unsuccessful pieces can be thrown away without anyone noticing it! »

The models are tested with a merciless method: the coffee break group. The different departments of the factory, production technology, tool designers and others, hold informal coffee breaks together, during which it is easy to survey the opinions of others. «The feedback can be quite sharp, » says Lindén with a slight smile. «When you’re developing something on your own, you don’t notice everything. And then when you show it to others, something new will always be found. »

Then more models are made and tested, ultimately leading to the products: cutters, scissors, axes and saws. But these, too, are tested again, by employees in real working situations. «For instance, in today’s morning meeting we decided to use the new cutters for two more hours before realizing them. No one can cut so long on his own, so we set up shifts. » For tests of wear do not reveal everything. «And the best one is lady next door. She will nonetheless do something that we cannot guess. »

Design 

«I never had any background in design, » says Lindén. «I was just always interested init, but that isn’t the same thing. » But ever since he was a little boy he has made all kind of things with his hands, and accordingly he began to create knife handles and scissors from the very beginning, also at Fiskars. «No one expects a factory production engineer to be skilled in design, thought, »says Lindén. «And that resulted naturally in lack of credibility. »

But Lindén’s credibility in design has emerged over the years, as shown by the many prizes awarded to him and Fiskars’ products: the State Design Prize of 2002, nomination as Designer of the Year in 2005, an iF Design Prize, Good Design Award, the Pro Finnish Design Awards, the Fennia Prize, the Reddot Prize and many others have been awarded for various cutters and spades, the Handy axe, camping saws and weeding tools.

«It’s good for a tool to display what its like and how it functions, » Lindén points out. Technical improvements alone do no suffice: a product will not be good enough if the buyer in the shop does not feel it is credible and sufficiently new to try it out. Tools are not deliberately made to look appealing, but it’s also unnecessary to mask their technology. Lindén feels it is good if the user can combine in his or her mind things seen and experienced with the appearance and function of an implement- «be it design or whatever. »

Olavi Lindén also regards to be an integral part of product development at Fiskars. « The products are designed from inside out. I can’t somehow imagine separating the technical solution from the design, they’re the same thing. Materials, manufacturing and use all influence the appearance of the final product, its character. » Fiskars’ fish scissors look like fish, and the company’s many pruners look like birds. Is that deliberate? « It’s hard to do something like that on purpose, » says Lindén. « If it has the feel of bird in a nice way, so be it, but we won’t deliberately add a screw to look like an eye. It’s in some way planned chance. »

Chance and Design

«Planned chance» is phrase that Lindén often uses, pointing out that of all innovations, 90% is sheer work. With enough work, something will emerge, and it will appear to have happened by chance, when things just combine in a new way. But new things are created almost by chance only by those who keep their eyes open and can draw the right conclusions. « Chance favors the prepared mind, » Lindén quotes.

Old discarded ideas may also find new use as technologies and materials develop. Cutters designed a decade ago can suddenly be given an improved construction through better manufacturing techniques. At times, it is simply necessary to think differently. The plastic of cutter handles can be injected around the blades and their joining screw in a single mould and in a single operation instead of making the parts separately to be assembled as the tool. This is not self-evident, and instead requires knowledge of the manufacturing processes.

Lindén points out that products development is by no means a process that follows set formulas or schedules.  « Flexibility is of the essence: we can expect to have a new product to be patented if we work hard, but whether it will come in June or September is a completely different matter. The longer the process, the better the results, » he continues. The employees of Fiskars are fortunate; the credibility of the brand is also reflected in the confidence of management with staff and the fact that it is sometimes worthwhile to wait a little longer for results. And at time it also has be possible to halt development work and admit that it leads nowhere.

But neither is product development sheer anarchy. Schedules and order of some kind are necessary. The need to keep personnel employed alone places pressure on the product-development department. «It’s the pressure of us all losing our jobs, if there’s nothing to sell next autumn. Everyone is responsible not only for their own work but for the bigger picture as well. »

Although Olavi Lindén is the one who receive the prizes, he underlines the importance of teamwork. Half jokingly, he says: « Although I’ve sometimes regarded myself as almost talented, one notice more and more how dependent you are on interaction. Although one might be the prime mover of a project, one will easily get lost if you only do things on your own. The result is things in which you have too much faith. » At that stage, outside feedback is important, that unrelenting coffee-break panel. And if something goes wrong, all get together to think of how to repair the situation. Instead of laying blame, solutions are sought.