A meeting of minds

Brascote & Company was born out of a shared passion and meeting of minds when founders Chris Taylor and Joel Bugg met. They spoke about the absence of quality designs and consistency of finishes of decorative ironmongery for fitted furniture, cabinetry and kitchens. It became their aim to bring together a collection that addressed this need.

Chris, an architectural ironmonger, metal worker and finishing specialist and Joel, a furniture designer, have worked on numerous interiors projects together over the years with Joel utilising Chris’ expertise in finishing of ironmongery for his furniture installations. For Joel, ironmongery is the ‘eyes, nose and mouth’ of a piece of furniture. He felt the market didn’t offer any original ironmongery to furnish his designs. Out of Chris’ and Joel’s musings and respective skills, Brascote & Company evolved bringing a collective range of handles, hinges, drawer pulls, knobs and latches for cabinetry to the market.

The extensive collection is designed by Joel and is available in seven finishes, all refined by Chris. The traditional designs have been imagined through widespread research of now obsolete patterns, which have been collected from antique shops and markets over the years. These have been refined and adapted for modern day use to ensure they are fit for purpose and designed in differing lengths to accommodate today’s furniture.

Our Design Process

Evolving from the historical research of past patterns of cabinet ironmongery and without interfering with their original authenticity and proportions, we develop initial sketches of potential products before producing computer generated 3D solid models. From those models, we create 3D printed prototypes enabling us to scrutinise the designs before putting into production. This allows us to tangibly inspect and assess our product’s suitability for use and sizing on modern day furniture.

In addition to adaptations of original pieces we have created several unique designs. These are the finer detailed items. Fittings such as magnetic catches and hinge finials have been embellished to match our knob profiles and allowed us to create a suite of designs, which complement each other and bring consistency when used on a range of fitted furniture.

Our Finishing Process

Our workshop is situated in the Midlands county of Leicestershire, close to the historical heart of England’s brass foundry district. We’re proud to maintain the heritage of this British industry.

All of our products are produced in solid brass. We utilise a traditional sand-casting method for our handles, knobs, drop pulls and card holders. This is the same process used to produce the original fittings that first inspired our designs. Our flush pulls and magnetic catches are produced using the latest CNC machining technology and are milled from solid bars. The raw fittings are then hand polished, drilled for fixings and held in stock for final hand finishing, which is undertaken to order. We also colour-match our supplied screws at the same time for perfect coordination and individually specify the lengths to suit door and drawer thicknesses. Sand casting will occasionally give small imperfections which only adds to the character.