Innovating Door Hardware

The Morphic collection of door pulls lends itself to a variety of home designs partly because we cast in 2 mediums, bronze and stainless steel and partly because the fluid organic design pairs well with contemporary or traditional door styles and door mediums. So, whether your door is wood, steel or glass, minimalist or classical, Morphic can be integrated into the design statement.

End details

Unlike many of our collections, the series has 4 possible tips and we are planning a fourth which I am loosely calling desconstrucionist.
The  ends currently are standard heroic tip (left) and its larger relative (third from left), the symmetrical cylinder (second from left) and the scroll ends  (right). Each end is designed to contrast with the cell-like center and is easily accentuated by finishing in a different sheen or by powder coating with a contrasting color.

Planned Customization during wax creation.

The organic cellular design can be playfully adapted by cutting, splicing, and distorting the wax cell segments to create a unique piece. This is a new direction that we are experimenting with and has the potential to create one-of-a-kind pieces. For those who work in Photoshop this is similar to using the polygonal lasso tool to select an area on a piece and manipulating the shape using the transform function to create a warped edge. Using Photoshop to design  the new shape is relatively easy but replicating the piece first in wax and then in bronze or steel requires expertise in both casting and welding.

 Brazing

In a subsequent post we will discuss mixing the alloys of steel and bronze to create a hybrid pull.

Neptune's Treasure - Ocean Front Door Handles

The scroll serpentine handle was designed for Baha Mar, a beach front resort in Nassua the Bahamas and was created in response to a request from Michael Hong Architects who were the architects and designers for this project. The long curvaceous pull is part of the Morphic collection but the coral inspired design needed to better capture the oceanic nature of this resort. We chose to fashion the ends of the pull on the moon snail shaped seashell thereby making the piece more like the trident spear used by Neptune God of the Ocean in classical mythology.

The oceanic theme was further reinforced by a blue powder coat which we added to inside of the handle. At a height of 40” the new piece was appropriately scaled to suit the grand entry doors to the SLS resort Hotel.

The handle is cast in 3 sections and the 2 scroll ends are welded to the coral stem to form a seamless piece. Cast in stainless steel, the handle is both durable and rust resistant and as with all exterior hollow vertical grips there is a “weep” hole at the lower end for rainwater to drain through.

We are currently completing an order for this piece and have been inspired to design a new set of handles using the snail shaped ends. The scroll ends will be free standing handles and at a height of 6” will be well suited for more modestly scaled residential entry doors. Stay tuned to see or perhaps sea how this piece evolves.