While this metal’s name can sound more like a primary school insult, or the name of your country cousin from down Miss’ipi way, it actually has a long, illustrious and extensive history! Pewter is an alloy of tin and copper, and has been used for crockery, utensils and ornaments commonly for at least six centuries. If you have and love your pewter hardware at home, here is the 401 on pewter The types of pewter for varying uses differe mainly in the amount of copper used to alloy with the tin. While lay pewter (which cannot be used for eating or drinking from – but can be used for making...

At last, a technological advancement that complements traditional hardware, instead of making it obsolete! True, these automatic swing door openers from Otodor mean that you don’t have to use the door handle if you don’t want to. Or, if you can’t – in the case of people with restricted mobility or hand motion. However, they do incorporate ‘ordinary’ door handles, and their images on the website are of doors with ordinary handles – avoiding that horrible blank look of a door with no knob. It’s sort of like looking at a face without any eyes, don’t you think?! Retaining the knob...

Perhaps even more intimidating than the popular lion’s head knockers, sometimes meant to be a sort of symbolic protection for the home, is this Art Nouveau monitor lizard handle on a door in Paris. Personally, I don’t feel any danger from a lion’s head that is not attached to a body … those teeth need a heart to make the jaw muscles work! But this lizard looks as if it might be about to give you a nasty nip! The Art Nouveau movement was all about organic forms, stylising nature, and this quite realistic adornment is the perfect complement to the Art Nouveau style architecture...