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.

Are Contemporary Door Handles also Modern Door Handles - untangling semantics

Being a product of the 50’s and later being influenced by the 1960’s mod culture I have often used the adjectives modern and contemporary interchangeably and see that many search engines also assume these terms are synonymous.

More Modern Door Pulls

Various dictionaries define contemporary as meaning to live or be from the same time so clearly the word can be used to describe past periods as in “Gaudi and Mackintosh were contemporary architects”. By comparison the word modern is defined as being in the present or in recent times and does not have the historical breadth as the word contemporary. That said, social trends and common usage may have the biggest impact on a word’s meaning and while the word modern was, in the 1960’s understood to mean to fashionable or hip, the word now seems a little dated. Lately I find myself describing my Martin’s designs as futuristic which is not surprising given his fondness for sci-fi. So, when you look at these pictures of our work use whatever term you think fits!”

Modern Door Knob part of the Morphic Collection

The Morphic serpentine door pulls when cast in stainless steel do appear a little alien and while the first film in the alien series is one that Martin has seen countless times the lead alien was not a model for this pull.

Ergo Door Lever an interior lever set in stainless steel

Perhaps the offspring of the alien may have had a more direct impact on the Morphic door knob.

Thankfully the more “modern” Ergo lever has it’s roots in the art nouveau period.