Bird inspired door handles

Even a modest garden can provide an abundance of stimulus for the patient artist. An avid bird watcher knows that patience and stillness are the main requirements for successfully observing and photographing these garden gems. But even stillness may not be enough to take a snapshot  of nesting Bewick wrens who are on their guard for anything suspicious. To take this shot, Martin Pierce had to hold his iPhone to the side of his head and avert his eyes from the subject.

Photograph by Martin Pierce

A long 400mm lens is also useful and allowed Martin to capture this from a safe distance.

Photograph by Martin Pierce

The bird house was made by Martin 10 years ago, but this is the first time Bewick wrens have turned it into a nest. Possibly the dilapidated nature of the box and debris of leaves and spiders’ webs were exactly the type of décor needed to make a less conspicuous  home. As Bewick wrens typically mate for life and return to the same nesting ground Martin is hoping to see the generations that may follow.

While observing and photographing birds is undoubtedly a rewarding past time, they are for Martin an endless source of inspiration.

When I looked back at some of Martin’s old sketch books it came as no surprise to find these quick sketches.

Living in the Hollywood Hills we  often see red tail hawks who prey on rodents and lizards which are abundant. The image below shows a red tail hawk carrying a squirrel in its talons and being pestered by a crow.

Date of Original Sketch 1990’s

Here crows are shown in flight and again mobbing  a red tail hawk.

Date of Original sketch 1990’s

 Bulbuls that are not native to California can now be seen on a regular basis in Hollywood and Martin’s patience paid off recently when he was able to catch this shot.

Photograph by Martin Pierce

While I have not seen any recent additions to his current sketch book he has divulged that a bird may soon make it to his drawing board as a model for a new Netsuke door knob. That said, the blue jay may also be a contender albeit the scale will have to be significantly reduced from the current large door pull.

Making a door handle black - patination versus powder coating

Alloys like steel and bronze can be colored by immersion in a chemical patina such as the M20 chemical from Birchwood which is suitable for bronze or by baking on a layer of pigment powder to the surface of the handle. Neither method is superior to the other, but both have different benefits.

316 Stainless steel is better suited to powder coating as this type of steel is hard, dense and corrosion resistant making it difficult for chemicals to penetrate or to form a chemical bond with. Our Morphic and Ergo collections are typically cast in 316 stainless steel an alloy that lends itself to contemporary door handle designs.
Copper is the primary metal in bronze, and it will readily react and oxidize when exposed to acidic chemicals to form a new micro thin layer. The color that develops through this conversion of copper will depend on the chemicals used and the colors can range from blue greens to red browns to black.  To create black, we use M20 a product made by Birchwood Technologies and one that contains selenious acid which is the component that oxidizes the copper turning it brown or black depending on the number of applications and length of each treatment. As the depth of color can be built up over several immersions it is method well suited to a patina where you want a range of color and a more organic appearance. As the patina is micro-thin several layers can be built up and then sanded back to reveal a range of color. If a uniform effect is wanted then the handle can be immersed in a bath of this solution several times to develop an even color of the required darkness.

By comparison powder coating works well on 316 stainless steel as the pigmented layer is baked on to the surface of the piece and no penetration of the surface occurs. Powder coating offers a wider and more controllable range of color and luster with a wide range of standard colors and custom mixes available from companies like Prismatic who offer a choice of over 6,000 colors. https://www.prismaticpowders.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL AT MARTIN PIERCE HARDWARE

We wish you festive seasonal cheer and hope that next year will be a happier and healthier year for all.

A Collage Made Using Our Hedgerow Small Tree and Our Moth Cabinet Pull

The flotilla of moths is a design that we will be staying with for the cover of our new cabinet pull catalogue which we will be adding to our site next year. Stay tuned as we update our website to include more cabinet pull photographs, drawing and other details.

Creative Use of Door Handles - In the Company of Art and Design

Carol Salb and Stacy Welch of Reddington Designs recently shared photos of a cabinet they designed using our Ergo door handles but with very original positioning.
The Ergo series, as it’s name suggests, focuses on functional shapes that are easy to grip and we hope pleasing to touch. To achieve an ergonomic shape we appreciate that left handed and right handed people will grip a pull differently. As a committed lefty who has spent many years coping with the challenges of a right hand world I was the ideal subject for Martin’s Ergo designs.

Andy Warhol’s Goethe Screen-prints - cabinet design and photo courtesy of Reddington Designs all rights reserved

We knew from Stacy and Carol that the Ergo handles needed to be customized in depth so that they projected less from the surface of the cabinet doors. What we didn’t realize is how they would re-position the handles to create a wonderfully fluid and visually interesting cabinet.
While the “handing” of each pull did not change the pulls were inverted but still retained their ergonomic design.

Ergo Entry Door Handle

The cabinet was designed by Carol and Stacy and made by Ayr Cabinets using a custom stain over rift oak. The piece has a lovely unorthodoxy and it’s upwards movement seems to defy gravity making it a perfect design for the pop-up TV it houses. The Ergo handles were originally designed as entry door handles but in the hands of a talented designer they can work equally well as cabinet door pulls.
The cabinet sits below 3 of Andy Warhol’s Goethe prints, a series based on the iconic painting of Goethe by Johann Tischbein.

Custom steel handles,modern entry pulls,contemporary door pulls,custom door pulls,unusual door pulls,Andy Warhol’s Goethe

Roller Latches for Stunning Door Handles

A tubular latch is used to hold a door or double door closed. The latch has a tongue that is thrown into the door strike when the lever is depressed, or knob is turned. A roller latch performs a similar function but does not require a lever or knob to be activated which is an attractive option where you have stunning door pulls and do not want anything to detract from their beauty.

Roller latches come in a variety of configurations some perform a simple closing function and Imperial Lock makes a series that also will lock a door. Whatever the configuration they share a simple roller that is a metal ball which projects into a recessed hole in the strike when the ball is sprung. Well-designed rollers are adjustable, and you can decide how far you want the roller to project out from the edge of the door using a long projection to create a tighter closing door that will require more force to open.

Roller latches vary as to how difficult they are to install. To fit a mortise roller latch you will need to cut a substantial rectangular area into the door to house the mortise box which is a job best left to a skilled carpenter or locksmith. In the photos shown here we installed a much simpler roller latch for our bedroom double doors so that our Hedgerow tree pulls could be shown in their full glory. The roller latch only required a shallow small rectangular area for the face plate which was done using a router and a smaller round hole for the roller which was easy to drill out.

Modern Entry Door Pulls and their accessories

The Morphic cylindrical pull, as is the nature of most entry door pulls, is used as a door grip and not as a door lock. While this entry door pull works well both stylistically and practically with the Ergo keyed cylinder and deadbolt trim, the cylinder lock in this configuration has been manual rather than electronically operated. With the introduction of our LED colored version we are now designing a trim set to compliment the fretted lace design of this piece. While the trim will ultimately work with an electronic lock we will be ironing out casting bugs with a trim for a manual lock before deciding which electric locks to make our trim compatible with. As we assess suitable smart locks we will be weighing the advantages of hard wired versus battery operated units and whether to us a simpler keyed cylinder deadbolt versus a more heavy-duty mortise lock. We are open to suggestions so do email us with smart locks that you favor.

The new Morphic keyed cylinder deadbolt is shown below as a concept in two tone polished and satin stainless steel and in 3 powder coated colors. It may be that with the subsequent electric trim we would incorporate an illuminated trim to tie in with color of the illuminated cylinder and if so then we would use an opaque diffuser, we will keep you posted as these concepts take shape. The Morphic and Ergo collections are typically specified in stainless steel but they are also available in oil rubbed bronze.

Yacht Door Handles in Polished Steel

The fluid design of the  Morphic door handle is increasingly being specified for yachts and oceanic projects in a  highly polished finish. The mirror like finish compliments these watery locations and as it is cast in stainless steel it has excellent rust resistant properties. The physical durability of stainless steel also makes it ideal for high traffic public areas which are the norm in the hospitality industry. We have recently completed 12 sets of our Serpentine handle for a new yacht designed by SMC a  London based group that leads the field in maritime design.

Tall Door Handle

Working closely with the projects specifiers, DEKO Ocean of  Denmark, we made necessary modifications to ensure that the handles would work for the projects 3” deep aluminum fire doors.

Coincidentally the Morphic style chosen for SMC’s project is one that owes its inspiration to marine life forms and in particular to the lace like appearance of  coral and to the tentacles of squid and octopi. Despite its oceanic origins  we named this piece “Serpentine” to more immediately convey its shape and to set it apart from other pieces in the series.

The Serpentine handle measures 31”H by 4”W ( 812mm x 100mm) and is suitable for most wood, glass and stone doors. The handle is mounted over a small concealed mounting bracket that is attached to the door. Once the bracket is firmly in place the Serpentine handle then clips over the bracket where it is held in place by Allen screws on either side of the handles tips.

Tiger Illuminated Door Handle

Tiger Design for Illuminated Door Handle latest piece from Martin Pierce

The new Tiger Illuminated Door Handle has now been released into the wild or at least that is how we sometimes feel about the internet.  We have in previous posts explained how the pattern was created with old world skills using a scroll saw and aluminum sheet to create a durable pattern for lost wax casting. We have now completed  our first stainless steel castings and using energy efficient LED strip lights have created a color changing and single color illuminated Tiger door handle.

As is the case with all of  illuminated door pulls, the Tiger panel is  directly wired  with 22 gauge fine wires that are fed through the door frame into the decorative door panel.  The power is typically delivered to the door through an electric hinge and then conveyed to the handle through a low gauge harness that comes with the fixture and is ready for connection to a class 2 power supply.  

The Tiger door pull is UL listed and is lit with a flexible weatherproof strip  and encased in stainless steel which is corrosion resistant and durable.

Tiger is the fourth  piece in our collection of  illuminated door handles which include  Fish, Coral, and Morphic themes.

Work is continuing on the Hedgerow new tree handles  but as with any new design of this size and complexity there have been quite a few challenges to resolve and as we are now incorporating LED lights and have a left and right facing handle we have had a lot to think through.

Other illuminated designs are taking shape in Martin’s sketch book so stay in touch to see these as they evolve.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

While we do not presently offer zombie door handles or other flesh eating creatures we do have a few lizards to celebrate Halloween with and there is a definitely an audience out there that demonize these reptile.

If you are  searching for air born winged demons then look no further as we have a left and right facing bat to add a note of horror or whimsy to your cabinetry.

Bats are left and right facing making them more ergonomic for the left handed amongst us. Their directional nature is also useful for the majority of kitchens where you have double doors or where you are looking to match the “handing” of your door. The challenges of door handing have been discussed in previous posts.

For those who associate toads with Halloween we can help you with our leaping tree frogs as cabinet pulls or with frog knobs for your interior or exterior doors.

In short we have a variety of Halloween offerings to choose from and hope the artistry of our designs as well as the medium of bronze will help your choice outlive the shortness of this macabre holiday. Enjoy.  

Tall Door Grips - How the Design Begins

Lately, in large part at the behest of designers, we have begun to design some very grand scaled door grips for the public areas of hotels and clubs. The size and shape of a door handle does influence the handles design, with long narrow grips dictating a more compact motif and with wider panels allowing for a more expansive forms.

In short, our designs for tall door grips fall broadly into these 2 categories and we have begun by focusing first on the more restrictive long thin pulls which one typically sees on storefront and bank doors and with lengths varying from 40” to 72”. We are using 60” as our optimum design canvas and are creating decorative segments of 18” and 24” that can be repeated or interspersed with other designs or plainer sections so that we have the capability of creating custom lengths for each project.

The segmented and narrow width of our design canvas impacts the freedom, balance and logic of our design. As a starting point Martin began by looking to the utilitarian and geometric shapes of the 1920’s Art Déco period and the influence of these repetitive bold lines can be seen in the sketch below. He also used his own Hedgerow furniture designs to create an angular tree branch motif.   These sketches are at this point concept drawings and we will be refining them over the next few weeks.