Metal Finishes

Yes, we can supply any finish as part of our bespoke design service. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Client Relations team via a call to 0208 680 2602 (during office hours) or email uk.handshake@josephgiles.com or us.handshake@josephgiles.com to discuss your requirements further.

Yes, we can provide sample discs for each of our finish options. If you are interested in receiving finish samples, please contact our Client Relations team via 0208 680 2602 (during office hours) or email uk.handshake@josephgiles.com or us.handshake@josephgiles.com.

This collection of metal finishes allows you to select a finish that will not patinate over time, like our living finishes, but instead enables a consistent aesthetic. This is due to the finish either being naturally unchanging, or sealed with a protective ceramic coating. Read our blog on ageless finishes for more information.

We recommend using our ceramic coated finishes (as part of our ageless finish range) for external doors as they are designed to withstand the elements, and are even suitable for coastal environments.

It is not recommended to use our living finishes on external doors because the exposure will cause them to patinate and wear too quickly compared to usage indoors. The video below covers the key points to consider.

While initially providing a smooth and glossy appearance, a lacquered finish is prone to chipping over time. Once the lacquer is compromised, oxidation occurs in those exposed areas, leading to an uneven, spotty patina that can detract from the products overall aesthetic. In contrast, an unlacquered finish will develop a patina more uniformly but can darken and age rapidly, especially in high-contact areas. 

To address these challenges, we offer a waxed finish that provides temporary protection during installation, helping to maintain the product’s initial appearance before natural patination occurs. 

For a more durable and long-lasting solution, our ceramic-coated ageless finishes prevent chipping and ensure a consistent, maintenance-free patina over time. 

We typically recommend our ageless finishes for high-traffic areas, as they offer superior resistance to wear and maintain a refined look without the drawbacks of lacquer or raw finishes. 

Plating is a finishing process in which a thin layer of metal coats a substrate, the substrate that we use is solid brass, the brass is pre-polished or brushed by hand before plating to achieve either a brushed or polished surface.

Solid finishes is when the product is the same solid metal all the way through, for example stainless steel, or copper. There is no other metal layer applied to give it a different aesthetic.

These finishes can either be 'living' (they patinate over time), or 'ageless', as they will maintain a consistent aesthetic. We have broken down the two main categories on our metal finishes page.

Living finishes are produced by either careful and extensive polishing or brushing of the surface (PBW & BBW) or by working a patination solution into the surface of the metal until the required patina is achieved (MABW & DBZW). Living finishes will naturally age and wear over time and with usage: this allows each piece to develop a beautiful and unique look, adding character to the design scheme.

In addition to the finishes below, we can provide bespoke finishes depending on your requirements, including antique silver, copper, a variety of golds, as well as matte and gloss black. We also offer other materials including shagreen and solid bronze.

We sometimes get asked if we can apply a lacquer to our finishes; however, we don’t usually recommend this as we have not yet found a lacquer that is durable enough for door hardware.

Our ceramic finishes are all between 40-55 microns thick. That makes it 4-5 hundredths of a mm!

Our ceramic finishes (which you can view within the ageless finish range here), can be used in most spaces due to the robust ceramic coating, rendering them suitable for outdoor, high-traffic and even coastal environments.

All the ceramic finish options offer corrosion protection and chemical and wear resistance, but the Soft Black Ceramic (CSB) finish is particularly hard-wearing, lasting 85 times longer than stainless steel in a salt chamber corrosion test, and with 30 times the corrosion protection of PVD in a salt chamber test.

As all our products are made from the same grade solid brass, we’re able to follow the same finishing process on each product, whether it’s a lever handle or a small pivot hinge.

This means that each product matches perfectly.

This seems like it should be standard practice, but it is not. Other hardware suppliers can use a range of base materials or different grade brass, upon which the finish applies very differently, meaning a different finish result across products.