NATIONAL HOME SECURITY MONTH
WHERE THERE ’ S ‘ BRASS ’, THERE ’ S MUCH TO TALK ABOUT …
» AT ITS CORE , CARLISLE BRASS IS AN architectural ironmongers . Established more than 30 years ago , the Cumbrian company has built its way to become the ‘ UK ’ s largest developer of door and window furniture ’ and from ‘ Poirotapproved ’ Art Deco levers used in the Hollywood movie Murder on the Orient Express to ultra-modern safety and security solutions , its portfolio of products speaks of three decades of design and development innovation and inspiration . Here at The Locksmith Journal , however , we wanted to delve a bit deeper and see what ’ s been happening in Carlisle over the past few months , find out what ’ s new in hardware , and ask who ’ s still buying the ‘ old-look ’ ranges ?
“ As our name suggests Carlisle Brass began life making and selling solid brass hardware ,” starts Rebecca Johnson , Marketing Manager . “ Since 1986 , we have added so much more to the catalogue however - locks and latches , handles and hinges , fire safety , panic and emergency exit pieces , cabinet hardware and even bathroom accessories - in almost every finish you could imagine .
“ The Art Deco lever , for example , is the perfect demonstration of all our past experience and modern expertise . Its design was inspired by the Empire State Building - the epitome of early 20th century Manhattan , and its development was assisted with 3D printing ; which allows us to model prototypes within a few hours . Having this type of technology at our fingertips not only allows us to work on long-term projects and evolve ideas to expand our catalogue , it also means when
customers come to us with bespoke ideas and custom-made challenges , we can set to work immediately , finding the best solution for their needs .
“ It ’ s certainly not a case of adding just anything to our inventory though , we carefully consider each new line inkeeping with our customers and their customers requirements and requests ; always searching for something we feel will really fill a gap in our gamut .”
‘ We ’ re really excited about some new finishes we ’ re releasing ’
“ An area that we ’ ve been heavily concentrating on most recently is expanding our colour catalogue ,” continues Rebecca . “ We ’ re really excited about some new finishes we ’ re releasing across ranges of door handles , cabinet handles and bathroom accessories . Last year we added matt black , matt bronze , and satin brass to our product ‘ palette ’ for certain items and we ’ re increasing the application of these in the very near future ; meaning that customers will be able to suite Carlisle Brass products seamlessly from the front door to every room .
“ There will always be customers who want the ‘ safe ’ chrome but in more recent times , we ’ ve almost been unable to keep up with the black and bronze orders , there ’ s been a real surge in those styles . As tastes change direction and diversify , we will always try and make sure that our own offerings match demand for different design decisions .
“ As we have our factories in the Far East plus import Italian products , we have a vast and varied supply chain which means we can keep up with all the latest trends as well as more traditional styles . The variation in how we manufacture and where we source supplies though always means we can provide quality and quantity as we have footholds all over the world . Furthermore as we are in the Arran Isle Group with other well-known brands such as Window Ware and Mila , we ’ re confident we have all bases covered for all customers , both existing and prospective .”
All of this has fixed Carlisle Brass as a firm favourite for traditional architectural ironmongery , builders merchants , house builders and manufacturers , for both residential and commercial customers . And , it was those commercial contracts that , in part , kept the business busy while the world was on lockdown , continues Rebecca , as Carlisle Brass worked throughout , where other companies had to put production on pause . “ We ‘ downed tools ’ for approximately two weeks ,” Rebecca explains , “ but it was soon back to business and now everyone is back in some capacity , whether it ’ s reduced hours or working from home . 2020 has certainly been a tough year for everybody but as a company , we feel like we ’ ve done really well . September in particular has been exceptional , in any circumstance , and we ’ re looking forward to more of the same with the new launches on the horizon .”
www . carlislebrass . com
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SEP / OCT 2020
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