— Material
On brass, and how it ages
We specify brass for what it will look like in four years, not on the day of handover.
Every brass fitting we draw carries a note about its finish: left raw where a hand will touch it daily, lacquered where it will only be looked at. A door handle ages in a year what an inlay line in a floor takes five to do, and specifying both the same way guarantees that one of them will look wrong.
Clients occasionally ask us to keep brass permanently bright. We try to talk them out of it. A material that cannot age is a material that cannot tell you anything about the life going on around it — and in a house, that is most of the point.
The compromise we do accept is placement. Brass at the threshold, where it will be handled and will darken honestly. Something quieter — steel, or nothing at all — where it would only sit collecting dust and reproach.