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GoodGoods' Flyswatter that Will Last Forever

By industrial designer Christian Steiner, manufactured by the disabled

By Rain Noe - April 5, 2023

in Object Culture

I absolutely hate this thing:

That's the P.O.S. flyswatter available at the local Walmart. Flies are part of life on a farm, and I'm what you call a "power user," and I've gone through at least ten of those. The flimsy handle warps as you swing it, making accuracy impossible, and the plastic heads break regularly. They're just 50 cents which makes me hate them even more; cheap, disposable junk. If I could pay more for a flyswatter that would last forever, I would.

Does anyone make a "forever" flyswatter? They do in Europe. This Hit Flyswatter by Austrian industrial designer Christian Steiner, who's also an ID professor at Vienna's University of Applied Arts, is made of Ash wood and has a leather head.

The hole in the leather is to give it a bit of aerodynamics, and also to provide a hanging point.

These run €40 (USD $44), which I'd pay if it were available here. They're made by GoodGoods, an Austrian company that does social good in the manufacture of their products: "GoodGoods are made with the greatest care in workshops where people with disabilities or mental illnesses work," they write. "Every single employee does quality and meaningful work here."

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Kyle Lamson

a year ago

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A quick search for a leather flyswatter on Etsy will turn up abundant similar options.

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Yardley Yardley

a year ago

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The extra heft makes me think you can really nail a bug with one of these, but i'm thinking about the gross factor of years of bug guts impregnated into that seemingly raw leather. then what you gotta wash it?

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- Jason Blandford
  
  Yardley Yardley
  
  a year ago
  
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  I agree -- a thin, antimicrobial and washable plastic would probably sell better in the US.
  
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