Hasta La Ideas

More than a few press outlets have called this product design a “genius” invention, but it’s left me scratching my head.

Inventor Tamas Fekete has designed the Vector scissors, which have the following features: The left side of the blade including the pivot screw is completely flush, and the handle has a molded lip that’s perpendicular to the blade:

The idea behind it is that you use the scissors the same way you’d use a track saw, but the edge of your table is the track:

Here’s where this doesn’t make sense to me. Most people I’ve seen who cut paper as part of their job use a straight-edge, an X-acto or matte knife and an appropriately-sized cutting mat with a grid on it, like the one Fakete used in the video. When dead-90 is required, the operator lines the edge of the paper up with a horizontal line on the grid, then makes the cut vertically by following the grid at the desired position. This saves you the step of having to mark the paper itself.

The notion that one would try, as shown in the video, to use an architect’s scale that didn’t span the width of the sheet to completely bisect it seems crazy. It also doesn’t make sense to me that he lines the sheet up with the edge of the table to establish 90—but then must slide it forward before making the cut to let the handle contact the table. In moving the sheet forward, hasn’t he just lost position and true perpendicularity? It seems the object was designed for precision, but is not demonstrated in a manner consistent with precision; and if accuracy is not the goal, why not use a pair of regular scissors?

While it seems cool to slide the scissors along a table, for true accuracy it would require you to mark the paper—a step that’s handily obviated by those using a gridded cutting mat and a straight-edge.

We’ve all seen products that are designed for professionals, and products that are designed to make amateurs/hobbyists feel they can get professional results. The Vector seems to fall in the latter category and I’m not convinced it would prove useful in real-world use, for the reasons mentioned above.

But, I’d like to hear from any readers that have to cut lots of paper accurately. Would you use this over the established method? And how do you envision the workflow going?

As for the Vector’s future, last week its IndieGogo campaign fell short—just $4,290 pledged against a $38,000 goal—but following strong press interest, Fekete will be relaunching the campaign today.