As a designer, one is quickly used to meeting unexpected challenges and working quickly to bring products to market. There are few stories of this type of situation than this one:It was 1983. Gerry called me into his office one day and said "Drago. Do you like birds?"
"Of course," I said, as I was a keen ornithologist in my day.
"Here's my idea... a cheap combination of knife, fork and spoon... Not a spork, those things are ghastly. No, I want a fork with the ability to be a spoon too. Give it a bird name, make it in bulk, a Meatfist set for the common man."
"When do you want this?"
"Wednesday." -- today was Friday.
We worked pretty hard, looking at the shape of different birds, their wingspans and such. We arrived at the eagle, with its proud breast and terrific span. Sure enough, I walked into Meatfist's office on Wednesday at 11am, as Meatfist liked to do work from 11am until 7pm, as diversionary tactic against the Soviets, he was also very fond of communal breakfasts of chili.
"How much do you think we can sell these for?" I asked.
"9 dollars."
And with that, I turned and said "Gerry. I give you... the Eagle 9."
He was blown away, as were we -- I think we sold about 800 million of those $9 packs in the end. Most of the money was being spent on Gerry's aerospace division at the time, but we each did get a gold spoon for each 10 million sales. Very few people will ever have 80 spoons, let alone 80 gold ones... but that was how Gerry was, and such was his wish. Plans for an Eagle 8 were later dashed due to fluctuating tin prices.