Item Description
First a little lesson on Danish social history: It is tradition in Denmark for blind (and and otherwise physically impaired) people to be employed as brusmakers and other similar "small-craftsmen", originally in large workshops, with attatched lodgings, owned by the government, the idea was (and is) that instead of leaving people with various handicaps at the mercy at their (often poor) families, it was better to teach them a craft and give them the opportunity to make a living for themselves. Unfortunally principles gave away to greed and it ended up to be more or less forced labour with minimal wages, just enough to pay for food and lodgings - and on top of that they were forced to work side by side with convicted criminals and the mentally ill. In 1929 Blindes Arbejde (translates; Work of the Blind) was founded in order to provide the blind workers with a chance of making a better life than in the government owned facilities. The workers were, following the tradition, mainly employed as brushmakers.
Today Blindes Arbejde is a company with about 80 employees, all blind or suffering from extremely poor eyesight. The company still makes all kinds of brushes and is famous for it's dedication to quality and oldfashioned workmanship: http://blindesarbejde.clickasite.dk/
Blindes Arbejde currently sell two models of shaving brushes; one with a bubinga handle and one with a cocobolo handle. I decided to get the bubinga handeled version due to it being a bit cheaper than the cocobolo version, but both brushes are equally nice.
Pre bloom
A nice and dense knot
Post bloom
The burned-in logo at the bottom
My impressions are so far:
Price
This brush can not be considered a bargain at a price of D.Kr. 512 (approx. $ 90.95), but I consider it to be fully worth that price
Quality
If I should consider the quality while taking into account that this brush is actually made by a blind/weak sighted person I would give it a 10. But, compraing it to pictures and descriptions of similar custom brushes I'll give it a 9. The brush shedded 8-12 hairs the first time it was used, but none the second time
Density
I have only seen a few brushes denser than this
Stiffness of Tips
The tips are a little floppy, making picking up soap a little more time consuming than other brushes I have used, but once enough soap is picked up it whips up nice and foamy lather fast and easy
Softness of Tips
Feels extremely soft and luxurious on the face
Ergonomic
I just love the shape, weight and balance of the handle. The handle dimensions are: Height; 54 mm, width at base; 34.5 mm
Latherability
Whips up lather with speed and effortlessness
All in all I highly recommend this brush. Though one could probably find a better quality brush at a better price - but not with a history and background like this one.
A discussion of this brush can be found here.
Regards.
Jakob
Today Blindes Arbejde is a company with about 80 employees, all blind or suffering from extremely poor eyesight. The company still makes all kinds of brushes and is famous for it's dedication to quality and oldfashioned workmanship: http://blindesarbejde.clickasite.dk/
Blindes Arbejde currently sell two models of shaving brushes; one with a bubinga handle and one with a cocobolo handle. I decided to get the bubinga handeled version due to it being a bit cheaper than the cocobolo version, but both brushes are equally nice.
Pre bloom
A nice and dense knot
Post bloom
The burned-in logo at the bottom
My impressions are so far:
Price
This brush can not be considered a bargain at a price of D.Kr. 512 (approx. $ 90.95), but I consider it to be fully worth that price
Quality
If I should consider the quality while taking into account that this brush is actually made by a blind/weak sighted person I would give it a 10. But, compraing it to pictures and descriptions of similar custom brushes I'll give it a 9. The brush shedded 8-12 hairs the first time it was used, but none the second time
Density
I have only seen a few brushes denser than this
Stiffness of Tips
The tips are a little floppy, making picking up soap a little more time consuming than other brushes I have used, but once enough soap is picked up it whips up nice and foamy lather fast and easy
Softness of Tips
Feels extremely soft and luxurious on the face
Ergonomic
I just love the shape, weight and balance of the handle. The handle dimensions are: Height; 54 mm, width at base; 34.5 mm
Latherability
Whips up lather with speed and effortlessness
All in all I highly recommend this brush. Though one could probably find a better quality brush at a better price - but not with a history and background like this one.
A discussion of this brush can be found here.
Regards.
Jakob
