IN THE DETAILS
Details, details, details often what separates a designer from other career choices, being ‘detailed oriented’. It can be a very good trait to be detailed oriented and having a photographic memory to commit the details to is additionally beneficial. However, as in all professions, knowing when to move beyond concept to design and then to final fabrication/construction is as key as the early sketched details/ideas themselves.
As designers, we have in place the “Design Process” a pre-determined series of phases that the designer goes through with client’s approval that formally documents the energy dispensed thought the initial creative/concept phases. Yet, like all good things, at some point details and designing them must come to an end, either due to budget or time constraints. Inevitably the designer has to move on or the initially envisioned details may never see fruition. It is indeed a difficult process and many times challenging, however, with open communication form the start to final project completion (no matter how small an assignment) the pay off can be stunning and gratifying.
Case in point? the simple commission of a door knob. Endless possibilities… yet the final design solution should in some way parlez the owner’s taste and the architecture that the door knob is graciously leading up to or opening upon. Door knobs while simple in concept actually only appeared in patent form as of 1878, a patent for an improvement on a door-closing device was issued to a man named Osbourn Dorsey. Yet the use of doorknobs, as documented by illustrations and shop catalogs, dates back to the 1700’s.
As designers, we have in place the “Design Process” a pre-determined series of phases that the designer goes through with client’s approval that formally documents the energy dispensed thought the initial creative/concept phases. Yet, like all good things, at some point details and designing them must come to an end, either due to budget or time constraints. Inevitably the designer has to move on or the initially envisioned details may never see fruition. It is indeed a difficult process and many times challenging, however, with open communication form the start to final project completion (no matter how small an assignment) the pay off can be stunning and gratifying.
Case in point? the simple commission of a door knob. Endless possibilities… yet the final design solution should in some way parlez the owner’s taste and the architecture that the door knob is graciously leading up to or opening upon. Door knobs while simple in concept actually only appeared in patent form as of 1878, a patent for an improvement on a door-closing device was issued to a man named Osbourn Dorsey. Yet the use of doorknobs, as documented by illustrations and shop catalogs, dates back to the 1700’s.
Some of the earliest and most exquisite door knobs were fabricated in Sandwich MA. The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company made many forms from vases to knobs in the early 1800s. Contrary to assumed convenience, the glass was not melted down from nearby Cape Cod beach sand but brought in from New York and N.J.
http://myeclecticloft.blogspot.com/2013/07/vintage-sewing-machine-drawers-goodies.html
http://myeclecticloft.blogspot.com/2013/07/vintage-sewing-machine-drawers-goodies.html
Lifeforms in all shapes soon emerged, some more literal but most whimsical and quite beautiful as in Franz von Struck's work below. The designer was more than a visionary in the early 1800s they were often the master metal-smiths as well.
Franz von Stuck, designed the stunning peacock door knob above, symbolism of the twentieth century Entrance to the Council Room at the Bremen City Hall, Germany.
http://gdartdesign.wordpress.com/page/18/
http://gdartdesign.wordpress.com/page/18/
Below, many door knobs, in this instance door knocker, went for the literal in 'interpretation'. Placing the hand before yours was in many ways jovial but so expertly crafted that one many feel their hand stood no chance in comparison of beauty.
Below: Entering the 20th century, Art Nouveau ushered in curvilinear abstract forms that added romanticism with sublime elegance.
Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863-1945), a Danish born sculptor had works that spanned the Art Nouveau period and saw the birth of modernism. Nielsen's work was breathtaking and more interesting produced by an accomplished woman in times often dominated by males artisans.
http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/2010/04/three-danish-door-handles-1904.html
http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/2010/04/three-danish-door-handles-1904.html
Below, within the Maison Louis Carré , a house designed by Alvar Aalto in 1959 which epitomized modernism in the purity of form and in practicality Alto merged warmth & function by wrapping the utility of the door knob. Functional yet majestically pleasing and completely forward thinking for it's time. Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto 1898 – 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer who was also designing in the same time Anne Neilsen was.
http://blog.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/2011/07/12/
http://blog.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/2011/07/12/
Below: Another example of Alto's custom door knobs. Every aspect of the house was designed from shelving to door adornment/practicality considerations.
Waaaaaay ahead of his time, Le Corbusier, the famed 20th century architect and modernist recognized that his custom designed door knobs should be more than aesthetically pleasing in restraint, he added a sincere functionality and consideration of ease for use the user. Le Corbusier designed the earliest 'lever' handed door hardware twenty plus years before Alto built Maison Louis Carré. Corbu's Villa Savoye-was also constructed outside of Paris, both were groundbreaking in their own right .
Since that time, designers and architects have studied Cobu and Alto's work and have wrapped, accented and refined the lever handle to new heights of elegant interpretation for the home and office. While ADA (American's with Disabilities Act) was introduced in 1990 & the lever door handle is now required code in public spaces; it is often the 'lever' style that is specified the most in residences today for its intrinsic simplicity of design & use.
http://www.turnstyledesigns.com/products/range/club-leather/type/mortice-door-knob/design/madridbeauty.
http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/olivari/contemporary-door-handles-11533-440756.html
http://www.turnstyledesigns.com/products/range/club-leather/type/mortice-door-knob/design/madridbeauty.
http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/olivari/contemporary-door-handles-11533-440756.html
Home owners today have many designed variations on which to fabricate, custom or not, the possibilities for accenting one's door with more than a practical 'knob' is endless and always brings a sense of value. Value in appreciating good design and value in one's home.