David Chipperfield designs for FSB
It was primarily the wish to fit his buildings with hardware that articulates and, indeed, augments the philosophy underpinning his architectural practice that led David Chipperfield to author handles of his own.

Of pegs and holes: square roses from FSB
Proof that visually outstanding products don’t have to be well-rounded is provided by the new square roses from FSB. With this design variant, the Brakel firm is echoing trends in international architecture, which has increasingly gone over to including angular forms in interiors for purposes of visual accentuation.

Fast and accurate fit: AGL® compensation bearing by FSB
AGL® by FSB is the measure of all things on doors and has epitomised an unbeatable category of heavy-duty hardware solutions for decades. As well as having become a sine qua non amongst architects, its well-conceived engineering and long life have in equal measure been impressing fabricators, clients, users and investors for nigh on 30 years.

Latest for later life: FSB adds compelling product innovations to its ErgoSystem®
FSB has been a byword for quality door and window fittings for 128 years now. It was the eastern Westphalian company’s proficiency in everything pertaining to “handle culture” that led it to develop its multiple award-winning ErgoSystem. This has established itself as a solution of the first order for barrier-free products in domestic and sanitary settings in recent years..

Knows by the fingers on your hands … whether you’re entitled to enter or not.
Mislaid or stolen keys are a thing of the past at last. FSB’s new Fingerscan 2.0 door pull provides scope for fitting an exceedingly low-profile biometric identification unit to classic FSB tubular pull handle designs. The resultant hardware allows its user to unlock doors without a key and is as convenient as it is security-conscious. Indeed, the underlying technology for Fingerscan is already standard in high-security spheres of the State as well as at a number of financial institutes of repute.

Grasping Architectural Art – the significance of door handles to architecture
In an exhibition entitled “Begreifbare Baukunst – zur Bedeutung von Türgriffen in der Architektur”, FSB, makers of door and window hardware from eastern Westphalia, takes a look at the relationship between architecture and one of its smallest designable elements, the door handle. A door handle, after all, is effectively architecture in miniature that reflects the design approach of its originator in both form and function.

Peter Zumthor designs for FSB
Working with designers of international note when developing new handle is a worthy tradition at FSB. Thus it comes as no surprise that Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has now got together with the Brakel firm to define his idea of a handle, one that constitutes a study in proportion and epitomises Zumthor’s understanding of design in equal measure.

ErgoSystem wins "red dot award" and “architecture + health innovation prize”
The formal and functional qualities of the ErgoSystem are veritably superlative: Three of its products recently won the “red dot award: product design 2008” - one of the most prestigious international design prizes and the “architecture + health innovation prize” in 2008, the fourth occasion on which it has been awarded by the architecture periodicals AIT and XIA.

Door and window hardware in bronze for inside and out
Alongside design and ergonomics, a key role is played by the material in the manufacture of fittings. In adopting bronze, FSB has revived a material that is historic in two senses. As well as having been used to define an entire age in human history, this copper-tin alloy also boasts a remarkable ability: finishes in bronze patinate, i.e. they darken with use and through the effects of the environment.

Less is more
The architectural tendency towards paring down visible structures and formally integrating functional engineering elements is also evidenced on entrances and exits, notably in the form of non-rebated doors or concealed hinges. FSB has now come up with applicable hardware solutions in the form of flush furniture - equipped with the FSB AGL® compensating bearing for heavy-duty applications or supplied in a fire safety variant - and flush roses for standard doors.

Nice and secure: Flush armoured roses from FSB
FSB supplies a coordinated range of hardware solutions echoing the architectural trend towards flush integration of technical/functional items. Seamlessly dovetailing with this programme are its new flush armoured roses for main entrance doors: models FSB 7396 1010 with securing disc and FSB 7396 2010 with perforation for cylinder plug.

New accents for sliding doors
FSB delivers a formally and functionally innovative hardware solution for sliding doors in the form of closed and open flush pulls. Made in stainless steel and aluminium, its new recessed handles echo the architectural trend towards the flush-mounting of functional appliances.

The new FSB lockset plate for glass doors, model 4224
Glass doors are a contemporary means of expression in modern architecture. They create more light, link up spaces and are conducive to a great sense of roominess. Together with the Christoph Ingenhoven firm of architects, FSB has now developed a slender rectangular item of furniture for glass doors whose unfussy elegance sets perceptible accents in a space.

FSB adopts 5 DuoHandles
This isn’t the first time FSB has demonstrated that a workshop can give rise to marketable products. The eastern Westphalian makers of door and window hardware is now incorporating into its product range 5 outstanding designs submitted to the DuoHandles/HandleDuos workshop that have already been extraordinarily well-received by the public at exhibitions and trade fairs.

Purism of the loveliest kind
Nice inside, shame about the outside? The “Design + Security” hardware range produced since the 1990s by eastern Westphalian handle makers FSB ensures that - notwithstanding the Security Class selected - good design does not need to stop at the front door. Now the Brakel firm is supplementing its range with two unusual items of S4 security hardware that add an electronic component to the set of modules.

FSB points the way
For design purposes, entrances and exits entail more than just the operation of doors, consideration also having to be given to how users find their way around the building beforehand. “Where’s the loo?”, “How do I find my way out?”, “What’s behind this door?”. These are all questions a well-conceived directional signage system is well-disposed to answer. Thus it is only logical that FSB should not focus exclusively on hardware; indeed, with the appearance of its 2009 Manual the issue of finding one’s way round a space (and to the door) has become central.

Frame door hardware from FSB and frame door locks from SSF
The venerable lock making firm Sächsische Schlossfabrik (SSF) has been a joint subsidiary of door handle makers FSB and door and window engineering specialists Winkhaus since 2006, allowing technically harmonised hardware and locks to be effectively provided from a single source. As of now, frame door hardware from Brakel and SSF frame door locks with a through-fixing capability are likewise fully interoperable.

Electronic access control EZK
Moulding the future entails pooling knowledge and turning it into user-friendly products in a spirit of smart management. It was this conviction that brought FSB and Winkhaus to the table and gave rise to the EZK electronic access control system, a jointly developed product innovation.

Further press releases