Philip Watts, Artemis door handle

[Acquire from Philip Watts Design]

The first thing a guest touches.

Made in Nottingham, England · Solid cast brass · Semi-aged finish

Why it's here

Everyone who enters a room puts a hand on the door handle, and almost nobody chooses one. It simply comes with the door. Philip Watts, who casts metalwork in Nottingham, treats the handle as sculpture, and the Artemis is his most graceful: a swept, wing-like form in the spirit of Art Nouveau. Changing a handle is the smallest alteration you can make to a house, and people feel it every day.

The object

The lever is cast in solid brass and finished by hand to a soft, half-aged tone that will go on darkening where it is not touched and brightening where it is. Its curve fills the palm. It is sold in left and right hands, with fittings for a latch, a lock or a bathroom.

Living with it

Start with the one door that matters most: the study, the main bedroom, the room where guests are received. Leave the brass unlacquered and unpolished, and in a few years the handle will show exactly how the house is used.

Origin: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Material: Solid brass, semi-aged patina
Options: Left or right hand; latch, lock or bathroom sets

The Inheritant may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this page.