Hi Everyone, After my newfound obsession with high-end artisan brushes, I noted that most of them are sticking to Fan knots only (Declaration Grooming, Varlet, Black Eagle) or only going FAN and Hybrid knots (Paladin). I think the only High-end artisan brush maker that still has bulb knots is Morris & Forndran. My question is, does this trend have a rationale? (like is it because the market just wants fan knots now, or is there an objective reason these super high-end brushes tend to be Fan-shaped? This is a pretty big contrast to 10 years ago, when most brushes were bulb-shaped, and some hybrids, with fan shape knot being limited during that timeframe. PS: I do love how the fan knots look, I think it looks more luxurious, but that can't be the reason I suspect. It seems bulbs might be coming out of popularity, same as 3 band silvertip badger brushes (so Fan/or hybrid shape knots with 2-band seems to be the current market trend, from my observation) Any info on this will be greatly appreciated!!!
I think it's just a case of fan knots and hybrid knots pretty much being the only option for synthetic knots, which have become wildly popular. That has kind of skewed the favorite brush knot 'shapes' in that direction already. I'm personally a huge fan of the hybrid knot shape, and consider it an improvement on the bulb design. I wasn't the first person to call a hybrid knot a "hybrid knot," but I was the first to recognize it as an independent brush shape, and not an 'oops,' which is how most people viewed hybrid knots at the time. My one regret is labelling it a "hybrid knot." If I could go back in time, I would have called it a "modern bulb" shape. I'll stop short of claiming the credit for this trend, lest my already large ego swell into full-blown megalomania. I do think that the hybrid knot is here to stay, and has replaced the bulb knot in many forward looking companies. I honestly expected companies like Shavemac and Simpsons to adopt the hybrid knot as an option 5 years ago or so. They haven't, so other companies have stepped in to fulfill the demand. Early modern (edit: generation 4) synthetic "low end" brushes used repurposed foundation cosmetic knots, and were the first brushes to purposely adopt the hybrid shape, which was already being widely used in the cosmetic industry. The real question isn't "why are these shapes popular now," it should be, "why haven't they become popular before now?" Edit: Fan knots are the best design for a knot, IMO. Ounce for ounce, fan knots put more brush tips on the face than a similarly sized bulb knot. Fan knots are ugly too, also IMO. Trends evolve and change. Knots have also gotten shorter, stiffer, and more densely packed than brushes from 20 years ago.
As always, today more relevant than yesterday, setting is the key. Even more in new gen synths. Maybe this can help. From Brushology by Paladin Shaving. http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=30895
Honestly, going back and re-reading the OP, the main reason that Declaration Grooming, Varlet, Black Eagle, etc. are using fan knots is because the owners of Declaration Grooming, Varlet, Black Eagle, etc. are fans of fan knots. If I, as a single owner/operator of a brush manufacturing operation, were to make brushes, my preference would be hybrid knots. It would be a long time, if ever, before I released a knot that wasn't in my wheelhouse...e.g. A fan shaped knot. My earlier explanation sounds way cooler, but I think this one is closer to the actual truth. Edit: another point to make here is that a fan knot is much easier to make than a bulb knot, when you are just learning to make knots.
+1 Watching pics above, with different setting the shape changes too. Setting makes the behavior. In brushes too.
