Brionne Hardware

vvienl
Nov 25, 2013
2 min read

This is my dream kitchen. I love everything about it - the terracotta splashback tiles, the cabinetry, the floor, all that natural stone and above all, the beautiful French style hardware. I have never seen anything like it here in Australia. I have seen some poor quality reproductions of these escutcheons (our kitchen guy tried to show us these ones in their catalogue that were 'similar', but they weren't even close!). There is just nothing like the real thing. And we wanted the real thing.

So I made it my mission to find these escutcheons. I scoured the internet and searched everywhere from te US, to UK to France. There were some American brands who had similar designs, but they either didn't ship internationally, or the quality was poor (zinc alloy material). We needed solid brass to give it the real weight and presence that it needs to have. Over the course of my research, one name came up frequently - Brionne. Brionne is French hardware company who manufacture their products the traditional way. Their artisans near Tours create these beautiful hardware based on the knowledge and skill of the trade. I managed to find a model which closely resembled the ones in this photo but even then I got stumped.

I tried an online merchant in the UK, and another one in France. Both of them told me that this model was no longer produced. After weeks and countless hours of research, I despaired at ever finding these escutcheons. Then I found an Australian company based in Sydney and Melbourne - Mother of Pearl & Sons Trading. I emailed their office in Sydney and was directed to one of their staff in Melbourne, Tracy Kennedy. She was the most lovely person to deal with. Through her, I managed to discover that Brionne still manufactures the model I wanted on order. She could order the escutcheons and they will make it in France and ship it out to Melbourne. Turn-around time would be a little over a month. To help us make our final decision, she even sent out samples of the escutcheons to us for free. She did not have a knob in the finish that we were after, but she sent one out in an antique brass finish anyway.

So I took those samples to the display kitchen at Alby Turner & Sons. I wanted to see what the hardware would look like against the cabinetry that we have ordered. Here are the photos that I managed to take. We are very happy with the overall effect and have decided to proceed with the order. Who am I kidding, I love it!!! And I'm sooo excited!!!