1. Small Bamboo design. 2. Small Deco design. 3. Oblong Ribbon & Reed design. 4. Weave door handle and matching doorbell. 5. Deco door handle and matching oblong doorbell. 6. Bamboo door handle and matching oblong door bell.

New doorbell push-button designs add a small but detailed option for specifiers
According to Von Morris president and lead designer Eric Morris, the New Jersey–based hardware company’s new line of highly crafted bell pushes were inspired by an unlikely source—cheap, illuminated doorbell buttons. “I would be walking down the street and see so many doorbell buttons with the ivory plastic button cracked, broken, and caved in,” says Morris. “I knew that I wanted to produce doorbell buttons that would fit into our suited line, but I was intent on finding the right switch.”

In order to prevent the switch from damage as a result of vandalism, abuse, and weather, Morris designed the housing to protect it from direct exposure to sunlight and rain as well as from the full force of impact. After a three-year search, Morris chose a high-grade electronics switch with silver-plated contacts rated for over 100,000 operations.

Intended for residential and commercial use, the bell-pushes are designed with concealed mounting fasteners and are LED backlit. The long-life LED provides neutral white illumination suitable for all finishes. In order to be used as a guest-room occupancy indictor for hospitality applications, the push-button switch can be changed to a rotary switch and the illumination changed to a two-color LED. The bell-pushes are available to match Von Morris’s six signature collections—Bamboo, Beaded, Deco, Moorestown, Ribbon & Reed, and Weave—as well as in traditional Square Bevel, Oval, and Palladian styles. Sizes range from a small and large rose to an oblong shape.

All Von Morris products are manufactured in the company’s factory in China. According to Morris, the Chinese factory recycles brass scrap, as well as steel scrap, cardboard, shipping crates, and even sawdust, which is mixed with soap powder and used by employees to wash their hands after work.

Morris feels it is the painstaking attention to detail in his company’s small but vital products that appeal to architects. His clientele includes Robert A.M. Stern Architects, who specified the Moorsetown suite entry sets, ring door knockers, suite bell-pushes, and custom suite door viewers for the 10 Rittenhouse Square mixed-use project under construction in Philadelphia. Von Morris, Camden, N.J. www.vonmorris.com

[Reader Service: March 2008 #215]

Tuber-inspired pulls
The Oversize Potato door pulls from MNG Hardware feature smooth ergonomic curves and are ideal for hotel or resort environments. A subtle concavity at the top of the pull lends to the potatolike shape and provides a comfortable bed for the thumb while gripping. The pulls can be mounted on standard, bifold, double-opening, or swinging doors and are available in lengths of 6'', 8'', and 12'' center-to-center. MNG Hardware, Southampton, Pa. www.mnghardware.com

[Reader Service: March 2008 #216]