As a brand that specializes in unusual custom hardware we have over the years created unique door handles for hotels and luxury homes, but this year marks our first venture into designing door handles for a private observatory.
When contacted by LM Design Group, an international Los Angeles based design group we did not appreciate that the sketch they provided of moon handles was for an observatory for an overseas villa.
The commission came at an opportune time as we had obtained UL approval for our new line of illuminated handles and were able to take this technical know how and configure the LED lights to work inside a concave moon fixture.In a previous post we shared a short video showing how Martin carved and hollowed out the concave basswood pattern that was the base for the door handle. The pattern was coated with a ¼” of gesso which formed a surface that could be carved to create moon craters and stylized moon texture.
The image below shows the pattern after carving the gesso was sprayed with a grey color before being carved as the natural white gesso is to reflective making it difficult to carve as depth is more easily judged on a colored surface. The image to the right shows the same approximate area as rendered in bronze and finished with a dark antique M20 patina.
While the original design was to be open with light shining through to the bronze back panel the client preferred a softer light, so we added a custom plexiglass diffuser.