push-plates

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Detailed Door Hardware

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Occasionally we have the pleasure of working with a design company that shares the same detail-oriented focus and commitment to exceptional door hardware as we do. Over the last year we have had the pleasure of working  with Chiara de Rege and her all female team to develop custom pieces for her discerning clients. Based in New York, the company’s clientele spans both coasts with design services for residential and corporate clients.

 Our collaboration with Chiara de Rege  on an Upper East Side residence resulted in the creation of a unique collection of door push plates and door levers. The traditional  Willow series was whimsically re-invented and enhanced with flying creatures from our animal  collection of cabinet knobs. The resulting door push plates and interior door handles were selected from several initial designs that paired smaller insect, bird and frog pulls with the Willow back plates.

The design team were renovating a residence using the existing doors that had astragals and panel mullions  that reduced the workable free area of the door and limited the backset depth of the latch.  With these considerations in mind, we focused on the Willow and Hedgerow exterior backplates, both being narrow and having smooth areas that could be enhanced by the addition of a small creature .

 

Some of the designs considered are shown below. Once the design genie was released, we had a lot of fun experimenting with different cabinet knobs and with insects flying in different direction. While our preference and that of Chiara’s design team was on flying insects, leaves and flowers could work equally well for those who have an insect phobia.

 

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Back plates and Push plates

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When is a back plate a push plate? This is an interesting and easy question to answer and the correct answer is whenever the plate is  large enough, wide enough and flat enough to easily push open a hinged swinging door.

Now that we have established the rules it becomes clear that most entry door escutcheons can be used as push plates provided they are ordered for this function.

Hedgerow and Willow

Both collections have 22” high backplates where the decorative component is limited to the outer top and bottom edges leaving a flat unencumbered area of 14” that is more than enough to accommodate the palm of a hand.

We make all of our work to order and tool our back-plates after the plate has been cast. In so doing our back plates can be later machined to create a hole for a cylinder lock or thumb latch or can be left as a flat plate to function as a push-plate.

While both collections have elegant back plates that need no further adornment, we have begun re-imagining both with more whimsical additions.

Ergo minimalism

The simpler backplate is smaller at 12” and while it does not lend itself to whimsy the fact that the entire plate is unencumbered allows it to function well as a more understated push plate. The Ergo collection is available in stainless steel or bronze.

Vine and Bark Back Plates

Both entry plates are adequate in size and in my opinion would work equally well as push plates as while they are extremely textured the filigree does not protrude too far or have any areas that could catch on clothing.