The Trapex range of door furniture is an efficient, tactile series that forms a marked contrast with the fluid lines of the Fusital handles, designed four years earlier. The essential idea of a T-shaped knuckle junction that would receive different lengths of steel – whether a shorter door handle, or a longer span of rod between two joints for a drawer – has developed into a series of milled stainless steel fixtures that can be customised by selecting the colour, finish and materiality of the handle sleeve. This allows users to create a highly personalised level of detail through the choice of a wood, synthetic rubber or knurled steel finish.

The effect is at once discreet and particular; anchored by the almost anonymous steel T shape, the brightly coloured soft rubber can be coded to reflect company colours, distinguish between genders in public conveniences or orientate users to different levels in buildings. Similarly, various richly grained wood finishes of sycamore, oak and walnut impart a sense of luxury, while the resistance against the hand of the slightly gritty knurled steel texture differentiates it pleasantly from the cold, oily feel of flat stainless steel that so obviously bears the mark of fingerprints and is difficult to grasp.

 

Repsol service stations

1998

Flo, Lumina

2012

Soft Cells, Kvadrat Acoustics

2004 - London, UK

Takku, Artemide

2021

Gabriela Hearst store furniture

2019 - London, UK

ILE, Benchmark

2024

Node, Lindner Parc

2017

Shelving X, UniFor

2023

Nomos Desking System, Tecno

1987

Foster 620, Walter Knoll

2018