Swarf Studio
HARDWARE DESIGNER
Pared back and playful, Swarf’s door handles are manufactured in a workshop near London, using traditional methods.
After their search for playful, bold and high-quality handles proved fruitless, Kate Worthington and Sam Fish established their own door hardware studio – Swarf.
The seed for Swarf was sown a few years back when Kate Worthington worked for a number of leading interior design titles. “I was exposed to different products on a daily basis,” says the former editor and graduate of the London College of Communication. “And the fact [that] I was trying to find something for my pages that didn’t exist was what gave me the idea.” So Kate and her partner Sam Fish, a metalwork artist who studied fine arts at Chelsea College of Arts, established the door hardware studio in 2018 with a view to producing high-quality and affordable products.
Based in Essex, northeast of London, the couple design their families of door handles from Sam’s small workshop, where each item is manufactured using a 1960s Colchester lathe. The resulting pieces are pared back and playful, characterized by strong lines, angles and curves that feel luxurious yet robust. Fine craftsmanship and a strong sense of materiality – both of which champion the making process – prevail.
As Sam explains, “Everything is really led by how it can be made and it’s very much about utilizing traditional methods of production to create different shapes and forms.” Their Memphis-flavoured brass Zyto collection, for example, started with a sketch and eventually came about through Sam playing with the bending equipment. The sturdy, powdercoated aluminium Meteor range is turned down on the lathe until the desired proportions are achieved.
And Symbols, a collaboration with London-based architect and designer Adam Nathaniel Furman, required an extended development period to get the system of seven fun and brightly coloured shapes precisely right.
The Symbols collection evokes the bold qualities of the 1960s hard-edge school of painting and exemplifies the many creative influences that pepper Kate and Sam’s concepts. Other sources of inspiration are a shared love of anything vintage, including mid-century modern, and a mutual admiration for contemporary design. Such eclecticism adds thoughtful nuances to projects like Tsubo House in East London by architect Fraher and Findlay, where many items from Swarf’s modular range were specified in the kitchen.
The couple’s small-batch approach appears effortless. However, producing door handles that have minimal environmental impact and last many years is not without its challenges. “We have to tick a lot of boxes,” Sam says. “Each piece has to function really well and be comfortable to use, but we also have to be able to manufacture it consistently and still ensure a high level of craftsmanship.” Swarf’s products are indeed affordable mini works of art with instant appeal. swarfhardware.co.uk