About
Martin Pierce is a sculptor and artist who has focused his talents on creating a diverse and unique collection of custom door hardware. His love of nature is often the inspiration for not only his architectural hardware designs but also for his furniture and lighting designs, paintings and limited edition sculptures which can be found in the Art section of this website.
Originally from England, Martin and Anne Pierce moved to Los Angeles in 1980 where they opened shop and began to create their unique style of custom furniture pieces. The absence of suitable artistic cabinet hardware led Martin to begin creating custom hardware designs he refers to as functional art. Beginning with cabinet pulls, the collection grew to include several styles of door handles and hardware, bathroom accessories and, most recently, lighting.
Regardless of medium, Martin’s work is organic in form and highly detailed. All pieces are original, copyrighted and designed, cast and hand-tooled in Los Angeles in either stainless steel or investment grade bronze, using the lost wax method. While labor intensive, this process allows the fine details of Martin’s designs to shine through. As previously stated, Martin’s inspiration comes from observing nature, in particular observing insects. He studies and is inspired by the works of both Antoni Gaudi and Emile Galle who are, in his opinion, masters of holistic architecture and whose works are superlative examples of the Catalan Modernism and Art Nouveau movement, respectively.
We offer several styles of door hardware in designs that range from the stylized trees and flowers found in both our Hedgerow and Flora collections to the miniature sculptures of our Netzuke and Lizard collection to the elegant and graceful Grapevine and Willow designs. We also offer several sleek and contemporary stainless steel pieces found in our Morphic and Ergo collections and are frequently developing new pieces. We are sought after for our bespoke hardware designs created for private wine cellars, boutique hotels and spas and luxury homes, to name just a few and are able to meet all of your FF&E needs. Many of our hardware designs can also be adapted to meet ADA requirements, making them suitable for hospitality and commercial installments.
Door Hardware Collections
Our bronze hardware series, cast in investment grade bronze and available in a variety of finishes includes:
Hedgerow
Our first collection, inspired by the greenery found in the English countryside, speaks of trees, nature and growth.
Willow
One look at this elegant collection and you can almost hear the rustling of the leaves in the wind.
Grapevine
This collection consists of door hardware cast in a vine and grape design modeled after the vineyards that dot the hillsides of wine country.
Lizard
Geckos, lizards and iguanas come to life in the hardware selections available in our Lizard collection. Cast in bronze and exquisitely detailed, this grandly scaled collection offers a range of entry and passageway door knobs, levers and pulls along with accompanying deadbolt and thumb latch locks.
Netsuke
Inspired by and named for a style of button used on clothing in 17th century Japan, these door knobs are actually miniature sculptures of bumble bees, rabbits and frogs.
Our Stainless Steel series are crafted in 304 stainless steel and include:
Ergo
Sleek and contemporary, the Ergo collection is designed to comfortably fit the contours of the hand. Available in both 304 stainless steel or bronze, this ergonomically designed series includes a variety of door hardware styles.
Morphic
Futuristic and dramatic in design, this series is as beautiful cast in bronze as it is when cast in steel. Further customization to the cylindrical door pull can be achieved through the addition of a hot patina color or LED lighting that shines through the perforations in the design.
Lighting
While in its early stages, we have begun a journey into the use of LED lighting beginning with the introduction of unique and unusual wall sconces along with illuminated door hardware.
Illuminated Door Handles
The exciting collection of illuminated door handles can be customized to accommodate brand logos looking for name recognition at entry doors and other key areas.
Custom Furniture Collection
Originally introduced in 1994 and still being made, Martin Pierce custom furniture pieces are available in very limited quantities and sold “to the trade only” via design professionals. Those items with japanning detail are part of a limited edition and are signed and numbered by Martin Pierce.
Martin Pierce primarily uses American grown and kiln dried superior walnut for his furniture with accents in English brown oak and myrtle burl veneer. Many of the pieces from the Hedgerow and Ascot collections are characterized by a hand-hewn chisel detail which adds a textural dimension to the furniture and has become a signature statement of Martin’s.
Aspen
Inspired by nature, the beauty of the Aspen tree is used as a decorative theme on case goods found in this collection. The Aspen tree buffet is part of a limited edition of 30 pieces.
Ascot
The Ascot vine collection is a limited edition of 100 pieces and is decorated with japanned vines and leaves, enhanced by hand-hewn chiseling detail.
Hedgerow
The same beautiful tree design found in our Hedgerow collection of architectural hardware, these furniture pieces are crafted from beautiful woods and feature exquisite detailing.
Martin Pierce’s Art
The Art section of this site is focused primarily on Martin’s imaginative depiction of insects, be they in sculpture or in oil paintings. This is a work in progress that is, at last, being brought together as a body of art work. Our hope is that the site will evolve slowly as much of the work involves telling a story that is yet to conclude. The story is about the relationship between Martin’s “humanoids” and the insect companions they share a fictional space with. While not all of the work features insects all of the work will feature nature.