We have recently made some lovely additions to our catalogue, for those of you that are enthralled with ribbings, beaded edges, drooping golden petals and all things ornate and classical!

Enrico Cassina is a traditional Italian hardware manufacturer that has recently joined forces with us – they have been trading since 1850. They were among the first in the Italian market to make hardware that was good for more than opening, shutting and locking doors … that was also a feast for the eye. They have a rich and proud history, not to mention a beautiful range of products!

The Enrico Cassina ornamenture, knockers, lever handles, knobs, and locks are fantastically ornate. Every part of the surface is decorated with either beaded metal, engraved swooping lines, or other lovely radiant classical motifs. While they have their own definite Renaissance, classical flavour, they are also a great match for French architecture. If you have a Louis-style or French Regency style house, be sure to pay attention to the Cassina products. The inspiration for Napoleon’s (and maybe a few other architects’!) Regency style of architecture and hardware was very influenced by classical hardware of exactly the sort that Enrico Cassina makes.

We currently have well over 100 products supplied by Enrico Cassina on the site. You’ll find many of them under the doorknobs, lever handles, pull handles and fingerplates sections of the door furniture reproductions area. Or you can type ‘ECS’ into our handy search box to get them all together (perhaps for a glass of wine and some spaghetti, or whatever classical Italian door handles do, when they get together!). Enjoy!

This is a bit of a different shot for a blog about doors and door furniture … considering that neither is actually contained in the photo! But sometimes life is just as much about what is not seen as what can be.
In this photo, we are at the door … or perhaps we are the door? Who knows. The beauty of a great black and white shot like this though, is that it makes you feel that you are actually in a colourless world, but one which is just as rich and vivid for all its different shades of grey as our Technicolor world is.

Deep musings for a knob blog, eh?

Photo credits: Il était une port… by lartdeco

By far the majority of our customers at Architectural Classics are remodeling their homes - that is generally the time when you think about replacing door knobs, knockers and other hardware throughout your home. And if you are like many ‘can-do’ people with only medium-deep wallets, you are probably thinking about doing some of the remodeling duties your self. That is why we have chosen HGTV as the site of the month!

HGTV takes the idea that ‘if you are going to do something, you might as well do it properly’, and makes it their own … both with regard to the quality of the advice they provide, and the website itself. It takes ideas, articles, video guides, rundowns, and tips from various design TV shows in the US, and puts them all together in searchable form for the benefit of everyone around the world! You can find information on decorating, real estate, gardening, crafts, remodeling, entertaining and holidays, and cleaning/organization … and if that isn’t enough for you, I’m not sure what is! The only pity about the site is that you’d never have enough time at home (uninterrupted by kids, pets, or spouses) to try all of the ideas that interest you in the site.

To give you a taste of what is available, here is the ‘best of’ list for the decorating, home remodelling and gardening sections:

DECORATING
• Chic Decorating Ideas
• Choose Room Colors for Your Home
• Color Correction
• Color Splash with David Bromstad
• Design Secrets from the Pros
• Design Star
• Design Video Makeovers
• Designed to Sell with Clive Pearse
• Family Friendly Design
• Find Your Style
• Rate My Space

Nowadays, this locomotive knob is a quaint and rather cute representation of how life used to be like in the olden days. It seems perfectly logical to have it on a door knob – sure it is unusual, but it also creates a traditional sort of character for a house. There are plenty of people that put antiques through their homes for this very reason (we happen to know a few of them!), and if you can’t put an actual steam engine in your living room, why not have the next best thing – a picture of one on your door knob.

But if you think about the knob in the context of when it was minted, this would have been quite a modern train. Then I began thinking, what would a modern train look like on a door knob in the modern world? I don’t know what trains look like where you come from, but where I live they are certainly not built for looks! Then, what other modern sorts of things would you put on a door knob? A computer? Not really photogenic … Mobile phones are almost as bad. CDs and DVDs are not very interesting (although perhaps that is what they were trying to represent in all of those concentric design Regency and Victorian door knobs! They had a vision of the future, and the future was CDs… !) Electrical plugs, modern cars (with the exception of anything made by Corvette), skyscrapers, plastic bags … none really have that je ne sais quois that you need for an elegant door knob, do they?

We do welcome suggestions for modern items to immortalise on door knobs, though!

Photo credits: AntiqueDoorknobs.org

We know that many of you have a bit of a romantic streak … at least I certainly hope I’m not the only one! There must be some of you out there that love the feeling of being swept up for a surprise kiss when you are concentrating on something else … or the aimless pleasure of letting your mind drift as you snuggle up with your partner on a soft couch. Strangely enough, the new range of hardware on the site from Bal Maniglie contains lovely echoes of those feelings!

We recently added around 160 new products to the range from , a traditional Italian hardware firm located in the (very romantic!) town of Lumezzane. Incidentally, they are near other beautiful-sounding towns like Gardone, Sarezzo, and Brescia – say them out loud!

The Bal range is clean and simple – but retains a strong classical character, for all of its simplicity. Every swoop and angle is carefully calculated, and the lovely smooth surfaces of many of the pieces allow you to really appreciate the quality of the metal.

The Bal range features a choice of 25 finishes – the largest number available from any of our suppliers. There are some gorgeous traditional metals like burnished bronze, which is a deep loamy colour in the valleys, with a swirling brassy accent in the pieces peaks. Gun barrel black and gold gives your handles a dark seriousness and high shine, but with highlights of radiant gold. With the antique brass finish, each piece has its own unique pattern of patching and ageing … and every other finish has its own personality and beauty. But check them out for yourself – a picture is worth a thousand words :-)

Their curriculum vitae includes supplying hardware for such elaborate and majestic buildings as the Belgian royal residence, the Vatican governorship and Gabriel d’Annuzio’s residence. So your handles are only a degree of separation away from monarchic, religious and artistic royalty!

You can check out the entire range of Bal Maniglie products here – or browse through the door knobs, lever handles, centre pull knobs and cupboard knobs under the Door Furniture Reproductions area of the website.