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The Protector
Picked up one of the Wilkinson Protector razors - and it arrived in the mail from the UK today.
The Protector razor was created by the British designer Kenneth Grange in 1992 and due to Schick and Wilkinson being held by the same company the same razor was released under both names but in different markets ("Schick" for North American" and "Wilkinson for ROTW).
Apart from the curvy design of the razor (I might even be tempted to say that the Webb was inspired by the Protector) - the one very novel thing about the razor were the wires that protected (hence the name of the razor) anyone from accidentally cutting themselves on the blades.
Sample commercial here showing the feature:
Models
As far as I know there were at least three base models of the razor;
- Protector (original), including the elusive all metal one,
- Protector 3, and
- Protector 3D Diamond.
There may well have been others.
Does, btw, anyone know if this razor is still being actively produced and sold?
I've seen some on UK's Amazon but not sure if that is old stock being sold off or not.
Fun quote an article from The Guardian in 2011;
"Grange's handle was as curvaceous as Jessica Rabbit and as ergonomic as a pebble in the hand – much like one of his later door handles for Izé. From this apogee, however, the story goes badly wrong. For all his commercial nous, Grange was still a modernist – he put function first. His successors, flogging their metallic millefeuilles and their techno-lubrication strips, are trapped in a baroque world of spurious functionality. As Grange put it to me on the subject of the five-bladed razor: "Three of the f**kers don't do anything.""
I think Sir Kenneth Grange would be great guy to have a pint with
In box:
Out of the box:
Fantastic feeling handle, extremely well balanced and the half-metal-half-plastic seems to work really well here. I think these are some serious sleek lines:
Comes in rather neat case
..where you can store a pack of cartridges in the back of it.
Mine is the "3D Diamond" iteration of the razor and I can't wait to take it for a spin.
I know it's not a 87 year old razor using proprietary blades carefully restored back to its former glory (well, I mean I did cut open the box with a pair of scissors and all) - but I think it's good to be able to find beauty in any tool new or old and in this case the Protector is as handsome as any of them
