The razors, made from one of the rarest (10 times rarer than platinum) and strongest metals in existence, iridium, also have pure platinum screws in addition to sapphire blades, and went on sale this week for a cost of $100,000 per piece.
“Our goal in founding Zafirro was to take a quantum leap forward in razor technology, to build the sharpest blade ever made and make it last forever,” commented Hayden Hamilton, Zafirro CEO.
Extremely limited
Iridium is primarily derived from meteorites, and is mainly used by the aerospace industry for components such as rocket engines, where durability is extremely important.
Ten times more rare than platinum, global supply of the metal is limited, and coupled with a complex manufacturing process, the company is therefore only producing 99 pieces.
Additionally, using solid white sapphire blades has a number of advantages in comparison to conventional steel blades; the blades have a vastly extended life, are hypoallergenic, resistant to corrosion and oxidation and are very sharp.
The sapphire is sharpened using high-energy, ionised particles to create an edge, which is less than 100 atoms in width and 5000 times smaller than the width of a hair.
Years of research
Having spent the majority of the last three and a half years to researching and developing this technology, expertise in fields such as rocket engine manufacturing, nanotechnology and particle physics were needed, and also manufacturing and technology expertise from around the world.
“Our aim was to create one of the most impressive consumer products ever made, something that would be equally at home in a Smithsonian technology exhibit or a MOMA design exhibition”, stated CEO Hamilton.