iCandy ATHENA Legacy Collection

An Original iCandy Professional Scissor Design Since 2012

The iCandy ATHENA Scissors Collection represents one of the earliest and longest-running chapters in the history of iCandy Scissors Australia.

First launched in 2012 following approximately two years of development, ATHENA was created as an ergonomic professional scissor platform for hairdressers and barbers, combining distinctive handle geometry, professional cutting blades and the ball-bearing tension technology that has formed part of iCandy scissor design since the brand's earliest generation.

Over subsequent years, ATHENA developed from its original professional cutting scissors into a broader family of cutting, thinning and texturising tools in multiple sizes, signature colour finishes and later dedicated left-handed configurations.

Production of ATHENA has now concluded. The collection and its original product pages remain online as part of the iCandy Scissors Historical & Legacy Archive, preserving the models, specifications, professional applications, customer reviews, historical imagery, video and documented development history of the range.

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The ATHENA Development Timeline

2012 – ATHENA Launch

Following approximately two years of development, the original iCandy ATHENA professional scissor design was introduced in 2012.

ATHENA was developed around ergonomic hand positioning, professional balance, distinctive offset handle geometry and smooth blade movement through an internal ball-bearing pivot system.

This established the design foundation that would continue through successive ATHENA cutting, thinning, texturising, colour-finished and left-handed configurations.

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2014 – ATHENA-CT Thinning Scissor

In 2014, the ATHENA platform expanded with the introduction of the ATHENA-CT professional thinning scissor.

ATHENA-CT extended the ergonomic ATHENA concept into professional thinning, blending and finishing work while retaining the distinctive handle geometry and smooth ball-bearing tension system of the original cutting scissors.

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2015 – Goddess ATHENA & Independent Industry Recognition

By 2015, the ATHENA design was being promoted as the iCandy Goddess ATHENA Professional Hairdressing Scissor.

Contemporary iCandy material described Goddess ATHENA as an ergonomic professional scissor designed to provide smooth cutting performance while supporting a more natural hand and wrist position.

Original 2015 iCandy Goddess ATHENA imagery preserved from the early years of the collection.

2015 ATHENA Video Archive

A surviving 2015 iCandy video also documents the Goddess ATHENA Professional Hairdressing Scissor in 6.0 inches, providing another contemporaneous record of the ATHENA design during this period.

Watch the original 2015 Goddess ATHENA video on YouTube →

ATHENA also received independent Australian hair-industry exposure during 2015. The March/April 2015 edition of INSTYLE Hairdressing Magazine Australia featured GODDESS ATHENA in the InSalon section on page 100.

The published feature provides a dated external record of ATHENA during its early commercial life, documenting its professional positioning, ergonomic design, Japanese stainless steel construction and ball-bearing tension system.

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2016 – ATHENA Develops into a Broader Professional Range

By 2016, ATHENA had developed into an established professional scissor family, combining cutting and thinning configurations within the same recognisable ergonomic platform.

The wider iCandy professional range also received further independent industry coverage on 11 July 2016, when STYLEICONS / INSTYLE published “iCandy Scissors Australia. Australia’s Most Desired Scissors.”

The article provides another dated external record of iCandy's professional scissor presence during the period in which ATHENA had become an established part of the range.

View the historical STYLEICONS / INSTYLE article →

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2017 – ATHENA Expands Across Professional Cutting Applications

As the collection matured, ATHENA expanded across multiple cutting lengths and professional applications while retaining the distinctive ergonomic handle form that connected the different models visually and functionally.

This period demonstrates ATHENA operating not simply as a single scissor model, but as a wider professional platform for hairdressing, barbering, thinning and creative cutting applications.

ATHENA's larger cutting sizes became particularly suited to barbering, scissor-over-comb and longer cutting strokes while retaining the same recognisable ergonomic platform.

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2018 – ATHENA TEX Texturiser Introduced

In 2018, the ATHENA family expanded with the introduction of the ATHENA TEX professional texturising scissor.

ATHENA TEX extended the original ergonomic ATHENA platform into more specialised professional texture work, giving hairdressers and barbers another creative cutting option while retaining the distinctive ATHENA handle geometry and ball-bearing tension system.

The ATHENA TEX became part of the wider ATHENA professional cutting system alongside the collection's cutting and thinning models, expanding the range into more advanced texture-control and creative cutting applications.

2018 ATHENA Video Archive

Original iCandy video from 2018 also preserves the ATHENA collection during this stage of its development, presenting the design for professional hairdressing and barbering applications.

Watch the original 2018 ATHENA video on YouTube →

The Cut Throat Journal – Supplier in Focus, 2018

ATHENA also appeared in professional barber-industry media during 2018 as part of The Cut Throat Journal's Supplier in Focus feature on iCandy Scissors Australia.

The surviving feature forms part of The Cut Throat Journal Issue 14 and profiled iCandy Scissors and the story behind the brand during an important period of expansion for the professional collection.

The published page shows the ATHENA professional scissor collection during its active production period, including multiple ATHENA cutting scissors and the ATHENA thinning configuration displayed as part of the wider iCandy professional range.

This surviving industry feature is particularly valuable to the ATHENA history because it provides independent, period-published visual evidence of the collection in 2018, alongside iCandy's own product photography and video archive.

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2019 – ATHENA TEX RAPTOR Tooth Variant

In 2019, iCandy developed a further variation of the ATHENA TEX platform known as the ATHENA TEX RAPTOR.

The defining feature of this model was what we called the RAPTOR Tooth Variant, creating an additional specialist texturising option within the expanding ATHENA family.

The ATHENA TEX RAPTOR was therefore not the original ATHENA TEX launch. It was a later specialist tooth variation developed from the ATHENA TEX concept following the introduction of ATHENA TEX in 2018.

The RAPTOR Tooth Variant added another specialist texturising option to the ATHENA platform while retaining the familiar ATHENA ergonomic handle design.

By this stage, the ATHENA platform included professional cutting, thinning and multiple specialist texturising options developed from the same core ergonomic design philosophy.

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Early 2020 – ATHENA Midnight Black Nano Titanium

In early 2020, the ATHENA collection expanded again with the launch of ATHENA Midnight Black, bringing one of iCandy's signature colour treatments to the established ATHENA ergonomic platform.

The new models featured iCandy's Midnight Black Nano Titanium colour treatment, giving ATHENA a bold new visual identity while retaining the familiar handle geometry, ball-bearing tension system and professional cutting characteristics of the original collection.

ATHENA Midnight Black extended the collection into a premium colour-treated finish that had become part of the wider iCandy design identity while preserving the recognisable ATHENA platform developed from the original 2012 design.

This colour expansion added another chapter to ATHENA's development: the original ergonomic design could now be offered not only across different blade configurations and sizes, but also in one of iCandy's signature professional finishes.

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2021 – Dedicated Left-Handed ATHENA Development

ATHENA continued to evolve into the next decade. In 2021, dedicated left-handed ATHENA models expanded the platform further.

The left-handed range included dedicated cutting models and specialist texturising configurations, allowing the ATHENA ergonomic concept to be applied to a broader range of professional users.

This continued the original ATHENA philosophy of adapting a recognisable ergonomic platform to different professional cutting requirements rather than limiting the collection to a single blade, finish or hand configuration.

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2022 – 10 Years of ATHENA

In 2022, iCandy marked 10 years of the ATHENA design.

By that point the ATHENA platform had developed from the original 2012 professional cutting scissor through cutting, thinning, ATHENA TEX, the RAPTOR Tooth Variant, Midnight Black Nano Titanium and dedicated left-handed configurations.

The longevity and continued development of ATHENA made it an important chapter in the documented history of iCandy professional scissor design.

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Professional Design & Japanese SUS440C Steel

The core ATHENA collection was manufactured from Japanese SUS440C stainless steel, specified by iCandy at 58–60 HRC.

ATHENA combined this professional steel specification with the collection's distinctive ergonomic offset handle, professional blade configurations and ball-bearing hinge and tension system.

The ATHENA platform developed around:

• Japanese SUS440C stainless steel
• iCandy specification of 58–60 HRC
• Distinctive ergonomic offset handle geometry
• Natural professional hand positioning
• Ball-bearing hinge and adjustable tension system
• Professional cutting, thinning and texturising configurations
• 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 inch cutting models
• ATHENA-CT professional thinning configurations
• ATHENA TEX introduced in 2018
• ATHENA TEX RAPTOR Tooth Variant added in 2019
• Midnight Black Nano Titanium colour treatment introduced to ATHENA in early 2020
• Dedicated left-handed configurations introduced later in the collection's life
• Mirror-polished silver finish across the original core ATHENA range

For the complete technical reference covering SUS440C, VG10 and ATS314 steel, hardness specifications and model-specific information, visit the iCandy Professional Scissor Steel & Specifications Guide.

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Industry-Published ATHENA History

The ATHENA story is preserved not only through iCandy's own historical records, surviving product pages, original photography and video, but also through professional hair and barber-industry publishing from the collection's active years.

The March/April 2015 INSTYLE / InSalon “GODDESS ATHENA” feature provides a dated independent record of the Goddess ATHENA Professional Series Scissor and its professional design characteristics during the collection's early years.

This was followed by the 11 July 2016 STYLEICONS / INSTYLE publication covering iCandy Scissors Australia's wider professional range during ATHENA's established production period.

In 2018, The Cut Throat Journal also featured iCandy Scissors Australia in its Supplier in Focus editorial, with surviving published imagery showing the ATHENA professional collection during its active commercial life.

Together with surviving original 2015 and 2018 video, historical product photography and archived material, these publications help preserve ATHENA's chronology using evidence created during the collection's active commercial life rather than relying solely on retrospective descriptions.

Read the 2016 STYLEICONS / INSTYLE coverage →

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ATHENA – Now an iCandy Legacy Collection

Production of the iCandy ATHENA Collection has ended and ATHENA now forms part of the permanent iCandy Legacy Collections.

Most ATHENA models are sold out and will not be restocked. Any ATHENA product still displayed as available represents final remaining stock from the collection. Once sold, production will not resume.

Keeping the ATHENA collection and historical product pages online preserves its original specifications, professional applications, customer reviews, historical imagery, video and place within the development of iCandy professional scissors since 2012.

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Explore the iCandy Legacy Collections

ATHENA is the earliest collection currently represented within our dedicated Legacy Collections navigation and sits alongside other important generations in the documented development of iCandy professional scissors.

Explore the DREAM Legacy Collection →

Explore the ELITE Legacy Collection →

Explore the ALL STAR Legacy Collection →

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The Evolution Continues

The lessons developed through earlier iCandy generations including ATHENA continue to influence our approach to ergonomics, balance, tension systems, blade geometry, finishes and professional cutting performance.

For the current generation of iCandy professional scissors, explore the iCandy EVOLVE VG10 Collection.

You can also browse our Professional Hairdressing Scissors, Professional Barber Scissors and Thinning & Texturising Scissors.