Deconstructing Product Design

Safety Razor

King Camp Gillette and William Nickerson, 1992

1. In 1895, King Camp Gillette worked as a salesman for William Painter, the man who invented cork-lined bottle caps. Painter advised Gillette, “You are always thinking and inventing something. Why don’t you try to think of something like the Crown Cork, which, when once used, is thrown away, and the customer keeps coming back for more — and with every additional customer you get, you are building a foundation of profit.” So began Gillette’s hard-target search for needs that could be satisfied using Painter’s single-use strategy. Then, one morning, while shaving with a dull razor, Gillette had an epiphany that would ultimately lead to the disposable razor — and, more significantly, ...