The making of
Ripple
THE RIPPLE COLLECTION
Ripple was made to be touched. Matilda wanted to introduce something more tactile to our Hardware range - a piece that didn’t just finish a cupboard or drawer, but invited you to reach out for it. Our collection already held the everyday essentials - knobs, handles and hooks that find their place around the home. But Ripple needed to be something else. More sculptural. More considered. Something with weight, softness and movement.
Finding THE FORM
The first question was shape. We knew we didn’t want a traditional spherical knob, or a flat one. It needed to sit somewhere in between: rounded but not round, practical but not plain. The starting point became something wonderfully simple - the impression of a thumb pressed into a ball of clay. A soft concave centre, almost like a little cocktail glass profile, made to sit comfortably in the hand. It was a shape we loved, but smooth, it felt like it was missing something. So we kept going...
Adding The Ripple
At first, we explored grooves. Fine lines, wider lines, different depths and directions. But because we knew Ripple would also become a paintable piece, the detail needed to hold its own beneath paint. Rather than carving away, we looked at building the texture up. The raised ribbing took its cue from our Hive Wall Light - a ribbed detail that catches the light and gives the surface its movement. Not flat, not fussy, just enough texture to make the piece come alive.
A new material
To get that level of precision, we had to rethink the material. Wood, though beautiful, couldn’t give us the crispness we wanted for the paintable and lacquered finishes. So, for the first time in our hardware collection, those Ripple Knobs are made from aluminium - allowing for a clean, detailed shape with a smooth lacquered or primed finish. Our brass, blackened brass and nickel finishes are made from solid brass, with the same weight and permanence you’d expect from our metal hardware.
IN FULL COLOUR
So often, hardware has a contrasting metal stem which can be beautiful, but not always right for every room. Ripple was designed with colour drenching in mind: soft, seamless, and easy to pair with painted joinery, lacquered cupboards, or walls where you want the hardware to feel part of the whole.
Every collection we make typically comes in a set palette. We decided to introduce a Paintable Knob to the Ripple Collection to allow for customisation and creativity. They arrive primed in white, so the colour is entirely your call. Match to joinery, contrast for a happy clash, or settle on a shade no one's tried yet. Just add paint.
Shop the Collection
Ripple
Shooting the collection
We shot Ripple twice. The first time on set, with a creative team working with sand and Japanese zen garden techniques: pressing the shapes in, raking lines around them, testing how each colour read against the grain. We hand dyed the sand with food colouring. It was a messy affair.
The second time in the studio, against a run of cabinets built for us by George at Class Carpentry Contractors Ltd. We came to them with a reference we'd found online and the colours we wanted; they turned it into the real thing, painted and finished to spec. Beautiful cabinetry, made for a shoot and good enough to keep. If you're after joinery of your own, they're the ones to call - https://www.class-carpentry.co.uk/ / @classcarpentryltd/.
