Handcrafted Hardware Cast in Bronze

Home details that bridge the gap between rustic and modern

January 3, 2017

Suzanne S. Brown,

The door lever that you grasp each time you enter a room or the kitchen cabinet pull you touch multiple times a day can easily go unnoticed. But to Eric Logan, principal of Carney Logan Burke Architects in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, these hardware details create a point of personal interaction with the design.

“When designed thoughtfully, hardware can transform a space, communicating a feeling of luxury, timelessness and bringing a project to completion,” he says.

After growing tired of using the same hardware repeatedly in their projects, Logan, architect and interior designer Jen Mei and other Carney Logan Burke colleagues recognized an opportunity to innovate. They got busy with clay, crafting models of door latches and drawer pulls, seeking designs that bridged the gap between rustic and modern.

Mei and Logan narrowed their designs to a few key pieces and took them to the foundry at Idaho’s Sun Valley Bronze, a family-owned company known for its high-end cast solid bronze hardware designs. After sending models back and forth, selected pieces debuted in April 2016 as the Lift collection.

The pieces are versatile enough to be used in a variety of locations, including bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens and mudrooms. Since the hardware can be applied to a variety of surfaces, homeowners are using the pulls and bars on lacquered surfaces, smooth laminates and glass in addition to wood.

Hardware in the Lift series includes a cabinet pull with return (above left), double coat hook (above right), open end cabinet pull (below left), and grip handle (below right).

Each piece is hand-cast using art-quality bronze sourced and available in 10 finishes. Among the popular choices now, according to Sun Valley Bronze spokeswoman Aimee Commons, is white bronze, a combination containing copper, manganese, nickel and zinc that results in a silver hue. “The pieces take on a dramatically different character depending on the finish,” Commons says, from the silicon bronze, which has a rosy tone because it includes more copper, to the pewter finish, which has a gray patina. They offer brass hardware in two finishes as well.

To create various patinas, Sun Valley uses an oxidation process that accelerates the natural effects of age, use and exposure to the environment to give the items a gracefully worn color and texture.

Mei is pleased with how the collection turned out. “It has a tactile quality, and also has a luster that people really like.”