Autumnal re-runs: Let me off in the Bronze Age
This post appeared originally on 30 October 2009 and I'm running it again because I like talking about the Bronze Age and the Elamite people who ushered it in.
Six thousand years ago, an unknown and enterprising tradesman of the Elamite city of Susa combined copper and tin in a crucible and ushered in a new age of human development. It was the dawn of the bronze age and the Elamites were the first people to leave the stone age behind. Bronze was the first metal alloy devised by anyone, in Elam or anywhere else, and the technology to make and use it spread outward from what's now Iran and it eventually circled the globe. Its two component metals, copper and tin, almost never occur near one another and making bronze required trade with other civilizations. So ancient people found it to be not only useful, it also made them talk to their neighbors.
Bronze had a extraordinarily low melting factor, it resisted corrosion, it could be made into as many shapes as might be imagined and it became crafted from substances that had been in ready supply in the Middle East. Bronze remained the go-to fabric until the start of the iron age, a few three thousand years later. Bronze in no way misplaced its usefulness and human beings were making and appreciating bronze for six thousand years and counting.
I can't think about a steel that feels as accurate as bronze does. It has a nearly velvety sense to it and that comes from the surface corrosion that outcomes from the copper in bronze reacting to oxygen inside the air. Bronze has the specific ability to stop corroding as soon as its floor has a layer of copper oxide coating it. It lasts forever and actually seems better through the years.
I'm fortunate to sell a line of cabinetry hardware from Schaub and Company in Grand Rapids, MI. Schaub sells some of the finest hardware I can think of and when Tom the Schaub rep comes calling it's like Christmas. Schaub and Company approaches what they do with the care and precision of jewelers and they do a lot with bronze. Tom's visit yesterday afternoon didn't disappoint.
This is a collection known as Vinci, and it features a few quite modern shapes in an ancient metal. Well signal me up. I knew I became going to like it before he even unwrapped his sample kit.
These handles and knobs come in two finishes and the handles come in five sizes. Measured center to center, the handles come in four-inch, six-inch, 12-inch, and 18-inch cabinet handle and then a chunkier 18-inch appliance handle. The knobs come in two square sizes and the entire collection is available in two finishes, antique bronze and polished white bronze.
Polished white bronze is an nearly reflect finish on a more or less solid contemporary shape. It's sensory overload and my new favourite deal with.
As if it weren't beautiful enough already, the entire Vinci collection is unlacquered and has what's called a living finish. I wrote a series on living finishes last winter in response to a reader request that I come up with a definitive answer. I came up with three definitive answers and you can read them here , here and here .
A dwelling end manner that the surface will continue to exchange shade with time and publicity to the elements. This takes time and it offers real individual to a metallic finish. Your existence leaves a mark on a living end and the concept of my leaving a mark on an inanimate, ornamental item is something that appeals to me on a in reality primary stage. It's for that same reason that I like marble counters a lot. I'll take individual over something that appears pristine any day and believe it or now not, I sort of like my crow's ft too.
Anyhow, this new Vinci bronze collection from Schaub and Company has given me one more thing to love about their hardware. Poke around on their site , there's enough there to appeal to just about everybody.
