Hasta La Ideas

London industrial design agency Morrama has created an aluminium straight razor aimed at millennials, in hopes of reducing waste plastic produced by disposable counterparts.

The Angle razor uses recyclable, disposable blades, and is designed to offer an alternative to disposable razors – 2 billion of which are thrown away each year, according to Morrama.

“Although straight razors are favoured by professional barbers and are widely regarded as giving a cleaner, closer shave, we noticed that there has been little innovation in the area since they were first developed in Sheffield, UK in 1680,” said design manager Andy Trewin Hutt.

“Angle has everything that you would expect to find in a traditional straight razor but we’ve updated the ergonomics and the functionality to make a more versatile and more compact shaving tool for personal use.”

Described by the studio as a “straight razor for millennials”, Angle’s minimal design features a weighted handle that creates a balanced pivot point at the thumb and forefinger for control.

The form of the paddles is designed to bring the user as close to holding the razor blade as possible for a precision trim.

In addition, the studio notes that using a single blade has been proven to reduce skin irritation and ingrown hairs while multiple blades can cause damage to the upper surface of the skin.

The replaceable blades cost less than 10 pence, which – according to the designers – makes Angle significantly cheaper to use than a traditional straight razor, which requires the use of sharpening tools.

Morrama has calculated that someone shaving 3 times-per-week using cartridge razor blades at £3.05 each would spend £79.30 per year or £4,758 a lifetime.

In contrast, the disposable blades, which cost 10 pence each and can be used twice, would cost £7.80 per year or £468 a lifetime for the same amount of shaves.

“We love the ceremony around shaving with a cut-throat razor, and wanted to honour that,” said the studio. “As used in barbershops across the world, the disposable blade straight razor is the choice of professionals – the Angle Razor allows you to recreate the barbering ritual at home.”

In the past, Morrama has worked with startups to bring other people’s products to market. The Angle razor is the London-based agency’s first own-brand product design.

Other designers who have created shaving products include Brooklyn studio Good Thing, who teamed with grooming brand Harry’s last year to unveil a collection of unusual shaving brushes, which include designs made from bobbly cast aluminium, towered stacks of magnets and a wobbly metal ball.

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