To suite, or not to suite? Hoppe's joint md roger benton on suited door furniture

Until recently, door handles in houses have been a random affair. Homes often had one style of handle for external doors, different furniture for internal doors and something else entirely for the windows. And if you wanted an espagnolette bolt for the French windows, well, any style you like, as long as it's this one.

As an example, new houses built in Gloucester as little as three years ago, were still being fitted with brass finished handles on the external doors, brushed stainless steel on the internal door handles and white handles on the windows.

Maybe years ago it didn't matter too much, because generally not much else matched either. Anyone getting married in the 60's and 70's was grateful for cast-offs donated by members of the family or friends. If items didn't match, and they usually didn't, the result was called a harlequin set, be it china, dining chairs or curtains, and you just made do.

Until recently, door handles in houses have been a random affair. Homes often had one style of handle for external doors, different furniture for internal doors and something else entirely for the windows. And if you wanted an espagnolette bolt for the French windows, well, any style you like, as long as it's this one.

As an example, new houses built in Gloucester as little as three years ago, were still being fitted with brass finished handles on the external doors, brushed stainless steel on the internal door handles and white handles on the windows.

Maybe years ago it didn't matter too much, because generally not much else matched either. Anyone getting married in the 60's and 70's was grateful for cast-offs donated by members of the family or friends. If items didn't match, and they usually didn't, the result was called a harlequin set, be it china, dining chairs or curtains, and you just made do.

Matching demand

In today's more affluent society, however, make do and mend has lost its appeal. Over the last five or six years, the increase in property make-over programmes on TV has meant that the general public is becoming more discerning, more sophisticated and more design aware than ever before.

Years ago, you probably didn't even notice if door furniture didn't match. But when it does match, with the same suite throughout the property, you do notice, and it looks good. As the industry adjusts to satisfy a more assertive customer, the gap between the prospective customer's desire and the house builder or property developer's design, has started to narrow. Today's specifiers, commercial property owners and homeowners are increasingly looking for high quality accessories that add value, continuity and elegance.

As tastes evolve, our job as a manufacturer and product supplier is to remain flexible and meet new demands. A strong relationship with our customers gives us essential feedback on what the market wants and as we are continually finding out, the price of the product is becoming matched in importance by the ability to suite it.

This was one of the drivers that led Hoppe to refine and add upgrades to our flagship handle, the suited Tokyo range.

Displaying confidence

Accepting that consistent design is essential to meet modern tastes is a step in the right direction.

As more hardware companies start to suite their products, the expanding choice will leave the customer with other attributes, such as quality, to consider.

Communicating quality is a key factor in beating competition and building reputations. Usually the most effective way to do this is to display confidence in your products' longevity and functional ability. We offer a 10 year operational guarantee on all of our handles to do just this.

Contemporary design remains a catch-all phrase that includes just about every style conceivable. So for suited products to have the best chance of success, the style should look at ease in a wide range of settings. One way to make the furniture complement a variety of interior designs, is to make it available in a broad range of finishes.

Our Tokyo range is available in traditional finishes such as Polished Brass (PVD), Gold Anodised, Silver Anodised, Powder Coated White, Powder Coated Black and Polished Chrome.

A smooth operator

If all of the aesthetics attract the eye to the handle, the next test is the operation. Technically refining a handle to give a smoother operating action is really where the quality speaks for itself. Although it's easy to fool the eye, if the function of the handle doesn't match the appearance, any success will be short-lived and over-shadowed by costly call-backs and damage to reputations.

To round off the suited Tokyo package, the handles are aluminium based which makes them lighter and allows a superior powder coating, leading to a true anodised finish in Silver and Gold.

Today's specifiers, commercial property owners and homeowners are increasingly looking for high quality accessories that add value, continuity and elegance

Continually developing handles based on feedback from customers is by far the most direct way of appealing to the widest range of prospective customers. And our feedback told us that our tilt-before-turn handles would be improved if they were tapered and slightly longer to enable more leverage and a better grip - so now they are.

As with most things, the devil is in the detail, attention to the little things reinforces the sought after feeling of quality. So as a finishing touch we imprint our handles with the Hoppe logo on the cover cap to aid easy identification.

Nobody would think about going out and buying an armchair that's totally at odds with their sofa. So why, given the choice, would a buyer choose mismatched handles over suited ones? They wouldn't. If you want to discuss this in greater detail, come and visit us on stand F062 at Glassex.

In today's more affluent society, however, make do and mend has lost its appeal. Over the last five or six years, the increase in property make-over programmes on TV has meant that the general public is becoming more discerning, more sophisticated and more design aware than ever before.

Years ago, you probably didn't even notice if door furniture didn't match. But when it does match, with the same suite throughout the property, you do notice, and it looks good. As the industry adjusts to satisfy a more assertive customer, the gap between the prospective customer's desire and the house builder or property developer's design, has started to narrow. Today's specifiers, commercial property owners and homeowners are increasingly looking for high quality accessories that add value, continuity and elegance.

As tastes evolve, our job as a manufacturer and product supplier is to remain flexible and meet new demands. A strong relationship with our customers gives us essential feedback on what the market wants and as we are continually finding out, the price of the product is becoming matched in importance by the ability to suite it.

This was one of the drivers that led Hoppe to refine and add upgrades to our flagship handle, the suited Tokyo range.

Displaying confidence

Accepting that consistent design is essential to meet modern tastes is a step in the right direction.

As more hardware companies start to suite their products, the expanding choice will leave the customer with other attributes, such as quality, to consider.

Communicating quality is a key factor in beating competition and building reputations. Usually the most effective way to do this is to display confidence in your products' longevity and functional ability. We offer a 10 year operational guarantee on all of our handles to do just this.

Contemporary design remains a catch-all phrase that includes just about every style conceivable. So for suited products to have the best chance of success, the style should look at ease in a wide range of settings. One way to make the furniture complement a variety of interior designs, is to make it available in a broad range of finishes.

Our Tokyo range is available in traditional finishes such as Polished Brass (PVD), Gold Anodised, Silver Anodised, Powder Coated White, Powder Coated Black and Polished Chrome.

A smooth operator

If all of the aesthetics attract the eye to the handle, the next test is the operation. Technically refining a handle to give a smoother operating action is really where the quality speaks for itself. Although it's easy to fool the eye, if the function of the handle doesn't match the appearance, any success will be short-lived and over-shadowed by costly call-backs and damage to reputations.

To round off the suited Tokyo package, the handles are aluminium based which makes them lighter and allows a superior powder coating, leading to a true anodised finish in Silver and Gold.

Continually developing handles based on feedback from customers is by far the most direct way of appealing to the widest range of prospective customers. And our feedback told us that our tilt-before-turn handles would be improved if they were tapered and slightly longer to enable more leverage and a better grip - so now they are.

As with most things, the devil is in the detail, attention to the little things reinforces the sought after feeling of quality. So as a finishing touch we imprint our handles with the Hoppe logo on the cover cap to aid easy identification.

Nobody would think about going out and buying an armchair that's totally at odds with their sofa. So why, given the choice, would a buyer choose mismatched handles over suited ones? They wouldn't. If you want to discuss this in greater detail, come and visit us on stand F062 at Glassex.