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 an exhibition in Stilwerk Berlin and, latterly, at the BAU 2007 trade fair.

The DuoHandles - HandleDuos workshop is part of a fine tradition dating back to the now legendary “Door Handle Workshop in Brakel”, held towards the end of the 1980s, at which the cream of international architects and designers convened in search of the ideal door handle. In 2006, we issued an invitation to approach the artefact-cum-extension of the hand in question in a somewhat less conventional manner - just as a door has two sides, after all, so it also requires two handles, and these do not of necessity have to be identical. It seemed appropriate in the circumstances to mandate designer duos as opposed to individuals with meeting the challenge. Sixteen celebrated designer and architect duos proceeded to draft “duo handles” and “handle duos” of a surprising breadth: pairings marked by contrast and others on common ground, “male” and “female” handles, “soft” organic forms and “hard” hi-tech models, sculptural works of art and straightforward means of leverage.

The 5 handle duos now entering the FSB range are compellingly distinctive visually and just as functional. The names of the various designs speak for themselves, summing up the conceptual approaches involved. There is a matching window handle for each set of door handles.