Architects and designers get hands-on:

New handle collections from FSB

FSB feels that decisions for or against a given door handle model always need to be taken bearing the surrounding architecture in mind. A space’s idiom, after all, articulates itself in compressed form in a handle’s design. Either the handle becomes a harmonious part of the whole, or it quite deliberately creates a point of contrast. The very nature of FSB’s discourse with architects indicates just how deeply engrained in the company’s thinking architecture is.

Not only do architects preferredly opt for products from Brakel when equipping their buildings with “functional extensions of the human hand”. In addition, selected beacons of the trade get hands-on themselves with delightful regularity, creating their personal ideal of a door handle for FSB. This is the source of many a noted FSB handle collection constituting “architecture en miniature” in the best sense of the term and reflecting the design approach of their authors in form and function. FSB is presenting two new handle collections in this vein at BAU 2017 as well as adding to two established product series:

C + V Line (FSB 1259/1257) by Hartmut Weise

Hartmut Weise asks himself: What works with and thanks to ASL®, the new bearing with innovative adaptor technology?! The answer, consistent in both allure and style, takes the form of FSB’s new “C-Line” (FSB 1259) and “V-Line” (FSB 1257) door handles. FSB ASL® is tailor-made for square lever-handle designs such as FSB 1257: handles are not fitted to the ASL® adaptor until the adaptor roses have been fastened to the door. Technical constraints take a back seat and formal parameters can be single-mindedly put to effect. The concave fronts on both models can be experienced visually and functionally in equal measure. Our eyes find pleasure in the play of light and shadow created. This decorative effect is augmented by graspable haptic merits: the continuous front groove provides ergonomic guidance for the thumb – a form of styling wholly in keeping with the Four-Point Guide to Good Grip postulated by FSB. The special haptic charm of the C-Line and V-Line profile can be custom enhanced by means of innovative matt blasted, colour anodised aluminium finishes. The FSB 1259 and FSB 1257 models for standard doors are supplemented by EN 179-compliant variants FSB 1260 and FSB 1258 for emergency exit devices, plus matching frame-door lever handles, coordinated door knobs and window handles.

FSB 1185 by Andreas Heupel

The aim behind behind the “Folded” design (FSB 1185) is the notion of a single concept embracing the most varied demands that can be made of any door-lever handle series. Rather than having to add the various degrees of cranking required to a given handle after the event as it were, they are thematically embedded in Andreas Heupel’s original design. Given the propensity of metal plate for being bent any number of times, the handle’s flat appearance accords with the various provisions laid down in building regulations (tubular-frame doors) or DIN standards. The basic door handle is only bent once at the crossover from shank to grip, the most complicated handle, the panic handle for tubular-frame doors, no fewer than four times. Geometrically speaking, the handle is made up of half a square and half a circle. Whilst the outside of the handle is imbued with unfussy clarity, the softness of an ergonomic semi-circle comes as a pleasant surprise to the enveloping hand. The grip section tapers uniformly outwards to lend the handle added lightness and elegance. FSB 1185 can be fitted to standard doors and, in the FSB 1085 variant, to emergency-exit devices. The series additionally includes a frame-door lever handle and a window handle.

FSB 1135 by Christoph Mäckler:
New window handle featuring a knob in either matt black or porcelain white

The FSB 1135 door-lever handle set by Christoph Mäckler is just the job for restoration and renovation projects involving “moderate Modernist” buildings. His design creates uncommon points of focus on account of its being self-willed and yet indebted to a traditional formal vocabulary. In combination with a conspicuously technical looking backplate, this hardware will add classy style to any door. The distinctive backplate can equally take the form of a knob backplate. Completing the design scheme is a companion window handle with a visibly fastened rose. A further fitting has now been added as a charming means of accentuation for windows that comes with a knob in either matt black or porcelain white.

FSB 1242 by John Pawson: new hardware for lift-and-slide doors

British architect John Pawson adeptly varies the design vocabulary of a familiar modernist door handle – the “Reich Form” handle by Hans Poelzig – and breathes new life into it with his FSB 1242 design in stylish bronze. Pawson has interpreted the formal notion of a snugly nestling oval handle cross-section, an idea that has been repeatedly modified for almost a hundred years now, with the aid of well-proportioned dimensioning. An FSB 1243 variant approved for emergency exit devices under EN 179 is available along with the FSB 1242 model for standard doors. Completing the collection are frame-door handles with and without cranking, a window handle and the new lift-and-slide door hardware 34 1242 001. The latter extends FSB’s end-to-end offering to embrace prestigious, large-format sliding doors.

Further information is to be found in our brochures:

Franz Schneider
Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Karin Padinger
Nieheimer Straße 38
33034 Brakel
Germany
Phone: +49 5272 608-201