It's around the house.

On this episode of around the House.

It's one of the most highly touched spots in your whole entire home.

Your doors and your cabinet poles.

If you think about the amount of times that you have touch points and interactions with that, you want something that's going to be sturdy and it's going to last.

And it's not the second you pull at it gonna fall right off or gonna feel like it's gonna crumble in your hand.

You need something with weight.

And the crazy thing is too is that all the oils in our hands are just like acidic.

They love to eat it.

Look at they have novelist cabinets in their kitchen from the 90s or whatever.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

To find out more about their brand new Evanescence series where you've got high tech, great cooking and affordable prices, check them out@monument grills.com when it comes to remodeling or renovating your home, there is a lot to know and we have got you covered.

This is around the House.

Welcome to the round the house show, the next generation of home.

And thanks for joining me today.

We are out here at design and construction week and me and our 100,000 closest friends out here in the building, shall we say, this has been an animal out here and it is everything you can see for anything inside your home, outside your home, whatever.

And of course, I'm in my favorite booth here with my friends, my family and we do this every year.

It's like our annual tradition and it is so much fun to see.

And I gotta say, before I introduce you, gu guys, it is so fun to see the Baldwin brand and the booth back.

And I say that as a compliment because you guys have gone through a lot.

We've all gone through a lot.

And I love the new full look of this and it's due and I'm happy for you guys.

Thank you.

We're really excited.

It really does feel like it's a great representation of us and we do feel that our new home under assa Avoy is really giving us the freedom to express what the brand has really stood for and allowed us to have the space to really showcase our products in a way that make the most sense.

Yeah.

Not talking anything bad about prior administration.

So we say.

But you have somebody that gets what you do.

I think the coolest part to me is we're now with an ownership group for the first time in a long time that's in our industry.

Right?

Yeah.

They are a Behemoth in hardware, both commercial now and residential.

And it just feels good to be somewhere where there's just so much synergy and opportunity for us to just explore what else is out there.

Instead of you having to explain to somebody about what this lock is.

They're coming to you going, and we got this idea, and you're like, whoa.

Okay, different story.

Exactly.

Different story.

Let's get the introductions going.

Even though if you've been listening to the show for a long time, Aaron, let's hear what you do here.

Aaron Brick.

I lead our sales team as well as customer service, based in Reading, Pennsylvania, the original home of Baldwin Hardware.

I'm coming up on 21 years, and like you said, Eric, we've been through it, seen this brand come a long way, and just so cool and surreal to be here in this space right next to Kohler.

Yeah, we've arrived.

We've arrived.

This is awesome.

And you and I have to go hit the ugly oyster again there.

Shout out right there.

Absolutely.

And of course, Samantha.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Samantha Deakin and I am the Baldwin brand manager.

And I also am in charge of partnership marketing.

So it's really exciting being here at Design and Construction Week, especially with everyone that we've had attending and being able to show the brand in a way that is really impactful.

And I'm glad to hear you compliment the booth because it's been a lot of hard work, but it's worth every single sweat, drop, and teardrop throughout the past couple of months.

And we know it's her.

There's no doubt about it.

You are written in this design wise, and that's a compliment because it's cool.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And for the people that don't know what this show is, it is insane how this all comes together.

We've seen the TV shows where they build a house in a week.

This is like building 10,000 houses in a week.

Building a city in a week.

Right.

The Kohler booth next door.

Or come on, those guys probably got $15 million into that booth, I'm guessing.

And it all goes in the dumpster at the end.

It's just crazy what this level is.

And you guys have done.

You guys got the 10,000 pound B around the corner over there that I'd hate to move around that.

If you're watching on video, you'll see what I'm talking about.

But you guys, not very mobile.

Not very mobile.

But a great, great photo op and very impressive.

Like the.

The weight of it.

You can see and feel as you touch each knob.

And so you can only imagine 600 plus pieces.

Yeah.

Automatically that were hand screwed in by several different individuals and then hand carried in in four different sections.

Yeah.

This thing just to paint the visual pictures for you kitchen people.

Catching on the radio out there.

It is like an eight foot high letter B that is to scale.

And it is all filled in with all the beautiful hardware you guys do, from knobs to cabin hardware to everything else.

It's very cool.

It's actually a celebration this year in particular about our look at scale.

So that's something that we've been playing with over the past couple of months is we understand that when you're designing the perfect piece that you need to maybe play with some things being a little smaller.

That front door, you might want a slightly larger knob that makes more of an impression.

But that closet door, you might want something a little bit smaller.

You can play with your rose scale and with your knob scale in a way that makes sense.

And it's a beautiful way to display it.

Yeah.

I was going to say, I think the other thing that really jumps out at me is the combination of the brass tones that we've gone with.

There seems to be this true resurgence of brass, unlacquered brass.

Just a pure.

As traditional as it comes going on to all different types of products.

Contemporary, modern, transitional.

So seeing those different kind of textures, those different layers and then those different hues of brass really makes this kind of like almost mosaic, right?

Yeah.

Just a really cool look to it, which is cool.

And that is another trend that I saw here in a lot of different booths.

Is that just raw brass look of how that's going to patina.

It's going to do its own thing.

I was over at Infinity Drain.

They had a drain that was solid brass.

That little trough drains the little narrow ones.

And it was one of those things that it's like goes in the shower.

It's going to be all these different colors and it's going to get really awesome depending on what products you're putting down there.

But that's the thing.

It's going to be super cool.

Some really cool.

Just authenticity.

Right.

It's like the true, like, language of the material.

Right.

That's what's coming through.

You're not stopping that.

Absolutely.

Which is pretty cool.

One of our designers yesterday said it best that she feels like that level of brass is showing your memories.

You can see every memory on the piece of brass.

And I, like heard that and I was like, that Is such a beautiful sentiment.

Yeah.

It's like steal that from free, right?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you, Teresa, for that one.

Shout out, Teresa, or.

Yeah, that is cool.

But that's the thing, though.

And the other thing is too, is you can't do that with a cheap finish.

You can't do that with some weird plating and pull that off.

It has to be that five pound door handle.

You know what I mean?

That's the cool part, is it's such a experience to put that heavy piece in somebody's hand.

And that is the element that everyone thinks of when they think of solid forged brass.

But, Eric, you're exactly right.

That forging process makes a much easier surface to put those finishes on.

It gives us such an opportunity and advantage over a lot of competition to be able to do that right and do it and show money.

Many different finishes, including our new graph, our newer graphite nickel finish.

Oh, and that finish is just sexy as all get out.

That thing is amazing.

Stunning.

And again, that was such a leading movement within the industry.

That was not like, oh, we just came.

It was like two years ago.

I think I saw that for the first time here and I was like, oh, hell, look at that.

And what's cool about that finish to me is how transformed formative it is.

You can take something that is so traditional and spin it right into contemporary with just a finish, which is wild.

You'll see some of the pieces in our booth that actually showcase that exact moment that you're looking at something that the second it's sitting in unlacquered brass right next to it, and you're like, this is meant to be in an old historic home.

But you put that gunmetal esque type finish to it, and it looks so rock and roll.

There's no other word to describe it besides that.

Yeah, it is awesome.

It's one of those things.

I see this, I think, too.

I think people are.

Black is everywhere, right?

Yeah.

SAT has been everywhere.

So for anyone out there that's sick of either of those and you're looking for a new option, graphite is just.

It's unique.

It plays in both arenas.

It's just a really cool new take, right?

It's funny, like when we're in the 2000s to 2010s, all of a sudden we're pulling all the polished brass out of stuff.

Now that's oil rub bronze, and everybody's pulling up.

It's just funny how that the transformational and it goes that to matte black and Then of course, these new finishes.

Which is for sure.

And the cool part too is as we we've started dabbling in this mixed finish space too.

Right.

O let's dabble in combining finishes together.

So that's another way that we're seeing brass come back in, is there may be someone that's not totally back to, hey, I want the full polished brass.

But hey, I'll take a little brass accent on my black or on my oil rub bronze.

Put a little tip on a hinge, change the back plate of your brass knob to black.

So just again, depth messing with those different layers.

Absolutely.

And brass isn't brass anymore, really.

You start looking at all the different brush and the tones and everything else with it.

Of course, you've got that solid quality that's hiding behind it of that brass.

But.

But really it's so cool just to see all the different flavors because those are all textures within.

And like we were talking about earlier, you could take something, then just really twist it into something cool.

Versatility, right?

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

And it does give it a new life.

It does allow for some of these pieces to just have a completely different tone and depth that you would have never seen before.

Yeah.

And then the other thing I think is cool too is what you guys have done as a brand over the number of years ago, over the last, let's say the last 10 years, it was a very traditional quality estate look, shall we say?

And not to take the brand of that, but it was just that kind of locate, very traditional.

And it's fun to watch the brand and you guys grow with that because now it's.

That's a wide road compared to the newer road it was.

And for you out there listening or watching this, if you haven't looked at Baldwin, time to maybe pop the book open or take a look online and take a look at this, because it's a different brand now than it was.

But that same lifelong heavy duty quality is there too.

So that hasn't changed.

We've also seen an ode to some of those elements because, yeah, like you said, we were so traditional.

And then I think we had this catch up mode where it was like, oh, but wait, we love contemporary.

We need to make sure that there's contemporary in our line.

And with that, you saw us fluctuate and play in those worlds.

And I think actually with one of our most recent launches of these levers that you can find in our booth, but the Briar Crest, the Nashville, those in particular are this ode to what we're calling the new traditional.

So it's those cleaner lines, a little bit more simpler, but it still has that respect that Baldwin has always had for the traditional space, but just done so in a little bit more of a sleek way.

Right.

It's so crazy how that stuff works.

And you've got a tray of mixed finishes here to play with, which to me is like the best adult designer Tinker toys known to mankind.

Right there.

Fidget spinner for the.

Yeah, exactly.

This is us hardware nerd people going, oh my gosh.

And what's cool though is you're looking at this and you've got all these different finishes.

You've got a round barrel shaped handle piece, but then you can go, ah, I want a knurled look to this, or let's put in a different finish.

And so that's the cool part of this, is that you're really limitless from what you can do.

And you guys have really come out with that quick ship program, which has made things so much easier as well to get from the design contractor side of things.

For the professional out there, that's not.

The hardware sometimes gets forgotten in the job site.

Yeah, look, we recognize it, right?

Time is as precious as it's ever been.

Right.

Deadlines are quicker.

We have more projects, we have less people.

So all of those variables point to.

I need to be quick.

We've launched a new operational process we call 554.

Okay.

Five days for quick ship, five days for reserve, four weeks for the rest of our just regular made order estate.

I can tell you it's 99% shipping on time right now.

Shout out the ops team and everything going on there.

Shipping before on time, actually most of the time, which is one of those celebrations that it's.

We just got to keep that momentum.

And it's.

It seems like for doors too.

It's like it gets forgotten by so many people out there because they're filling out their door order for them and going, yeah, what locks are we doing on that now the timer's going right for the project because.

Okay, what are we doing?

But the nice thing is a lot of door companies out there.

Four to six weeks.

Yes.

We got the window.

You got the window, which is great.

It gives you some padding too because Murphy's law says that one of the shipping companies going to leave it at the neighbor's door.

All the crazy stuff that happens out there, the snow, the wind, the hurricanes, whatever, but it really gives you guys in a position to really bring that high End quality at a very reasonable time because you can get it there before the door manufacturers or the cabinets are delivered and that kind of stuff.

Yeah, I think that's the key to Quick Ship is look, I think there's a lot of manufacturers that have some sort of fast option, but it is all of our styles.

Yeah.

So you're getting the variety, but you're also getting the speed.

And again, and shout out to an ownership group.

That's a lot of inventory dollars sitting on the shelf, but it's showing that it's worth it because our customer sees we have it.

So again, if you're out there, you need some doorknobs or levers.

We have them.

They're on the shelf.

I also think we have to talk about the ease too, that Quick Shift brings, though, because not only is it the speed to market, it's the fact that you're everything you need in one box.

And also with the introduction of the new adjustable latch, it literally is a game changer when it comes to product ordering.

And that's been always the hard part for me.

Even ordering because.

And I've known you guys forever, but I have to slow down and pay attention because there used to be a lot of boxes.

And it's okay.

I need this, but I need this piece and I need this piece.

And you guys have really brought that in, which is really cool because stuff that happens on the job site, it's great that you get it there.

Right.

But you want to keep it at the job site, too.

And more boxes means more chance of something going sideways.

Because if it's going to go sideways, it's going to go sideways at the job site.

Yeah.

And I think it.

We haven't changed any of that.

So we.

I think we have the best of both worlds now again.

And we have those customers that they want to put it together piece by piece.

That true bespoke experience.

Absolutely.

Peace.

We'll still do that all day long, but this time thing.

So lock in a box and taking the questions out.

You don't need to ask handing if it's the same finish.

Yeah.

You don't need to ask back set.

So we're taking questions out of the equation.

So it's just this works no matter what.

And questions or errors.

Right.

That's where the mistakes.

Yeah.

And that's what I think.

And that's why I love what you guys did by literally cutting the hardware down needed for this with the adjustable latch.

That to me was just so brilliant.

And when I saw you guys Coming out with that, I was like, oh my God, somebody finally figured that out because.

And it works.

It's not some clunky, weird piece.

It's going to work for both.

Oh.

And it's.

I think it was three or four iterations with, with our design and engineering team.

We would all put them out on our own doors at home.

Yeah.

Put it through its paces and we brought back notes and we were three, four generations or revisions in to make sure after two years it was going to work.

Yeah.

And that's the cool thing with you guys in testing too.

You guys do a lot of that stuff to really make sure before it goes out to market.

Test lab in our first floor.

Right.

We can hammer, hammer, deadbolt bolts, drill through stuff.

All in the comfort of our own building.

Exactly.

And we're a brand known for trust.

And so when you start coming out with this new idea and some of these inventions or ideas that really do break the mold from what Baldwin has always done, you want to make sure that you still have that same level of trust.

We want to keep being a trusted brand for years to come.

So that level of testing is an absolute necessity in order for people to understand.

The latch was known.

The latch is known by Baldwin.

1.

It has our name directly on it.

People are excited when they see those elements.

And so when you start bringing up these ideas of something new, there's a little bit of fear that comes about.

Responsibility.

Right.

Someone's door doesn't work, they open the door.

And to your point, the first name they're going to see is our name on the latch, Right?

Absolutely.

So we're public enemy number one if it doesn't work.

So we take that to heart and that's why we go through such, such vigorous testing.

Yeah.

And for you guys out there that haven't really seen what we're talking about and this is great.

So Baldwin created this great latch that we have these two back sets out there for exterior doors.

For instance, depending on the door and door sizes are getting nutty out there.

I was walking around here, I'm like, that is a 12 foot pivot door right there.

And I'm like, how you getting that to the job site?

Easy.

And getting it in there.

And.

And that's crazy.

But we've got all these different back sets, the two main ones right there, without somebody getting nutty.

And.

And do it.

There's always somebody doing that in the past.

Absolutely.

But so anyway, you can adjust this in the field.

You don't have to sit there and Check the box and go, oh, my door guy drilled it wrong.

Guess what?

You got the piece for that?

You know, Absolutely.

And we're doing a couple shout outs.

I got to talk about our customer service team back in Reading.

You know what you just said.

We run into those scenarios sometimes, right.

Where people think they have the right stuff.

Right.

They get the lock in a box, but they need that extra piece.

We, that team right there that we're.

We're sending probably 100 parts pieces out to customers every day to ensure that trust, that responsibility that Severin started.

It'll be 80 years in 20, 26.

So, yeah, that.

That heritage, something we take seriously.

Yeah.

And that's again, but that's why I like leaning on your local dealers.

Right.

Those people that you walk in, they know what they're talking about.

My area run down to Chown Hardware.

They've been around forever.

Shadow at.

And you'll like keep running double in the hotel.

Yeah, like double.

As long as.

Absolutely.

1800s.

Yeah.

I was helping MC their.

What was that?

100.

I'm gonna make that.

I'm gonna make that wrong.

160.

It's 140th.

I think it's what it was.

140th in Portland.

What a story.

It's insane.

Yeah.

And to me, I love that because again, family run company, it's just same generation after generation.

And what's cool with that is you guys have dealers like that all across the country that are your local people that you go in, you build the relationship with and they know how to order it.

So if you're the builder of the homeowner, you don't have to study this stuff.

You don't have to worry about.

They'll say, what rosette do you want?

What do you want this?

Or if you're getting absolutely crazy like I do, sometimes with mixed finishes, you can do that.

Know that you've got a pro there that's going to help you get through it.

You've got the resources for sure.

Yeah.

What's great about even from the dealer's perspective, with the adjustable axis, literally, if they want to keep a decent amount in stock, that adjustable latch, not only does it change between the two different latch sizes, but it also changes between knob and lever strength.

So it's literally making it so much easier to have a couple on stock.

It never hurts to have a couple of extra latches on a job site.

But now you don't have to worry about making sure that each of those four parts are taken care of that's a huge deal.

And that's less inventory for everybody.

Everybody, Exactly.

Yeah.

People don't want things on their shelves anymore.

Right.

So that's where Quick Ship comes in.

That's where the parts and pieces come in.

We also supply both a dual full lip strike and a T strike.

I know we've all run into that.

Right?

Where.

Okay, we got our lock in a box.

It's on new.

It's on a new build.

That's going to be a T strike, usually.

Right.

Or it's a retrofit.

Oh, no, I got a T strike.

I need my full lip.

So.

Absolutely.

Trying to be proactively thinking ahead to how do we solve a problem before it happens.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

And.

And then we see all these other.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna throw these guys under the bus out there.

But I did this with my TV show, so we had some fun with this.

I would go out and order the cheapest knockoff stuff on Amazon and try to put it through its paces and see.

Dear Lord, you get what you pay for out there.

A lot of paperweights.

Huh?

A lot of paperweights.

But some of the stuff, even with tools, I was putting on, like, my cut group cup gloves going, I could lose a hand here if this doesn't go well.

And really, when it comes down to the quality in the finish, you guys have a great.

The weight of superior design over there with the scale, it says it all.

You can grab that knob handle and go, that is one thing.

That is real.

And then you get the other stuff and it's all right.

That's sheet metal.

And there's a big difference in the quality and.

And of course, the durability.

This is stuff that you could put in the house and you know it's going to be there for 80 years.

It's one of the most highly touched spots in your whole entire home.

Your doors and your cabinet poles.

If you think about the amount of times that you have touch points and interactions with that, you want something that's going to be sturdy and it's going to last.

And it's not the second you pull at it going to fall right off or going to feel like it's going to crumble in your hand.

You need something with weight.

And the crazy thing is, too, is that all the oils in our hands are just, like, acidic.

They love to eat it.

Look at people that have.

That have knobless cabinets in their kitchen from the 90s or whatever.

Destroys the finish.

Yeah.

You see the hand marks, you see the fingerprints, the whole thing.

Absolutely.

And that's going to be tough, too.

It's part of the R D stuff, like coming up with the mat that doesn't do that, because early on, mat finishes with other brands, you'd come up and grab something and it's like.

And see where you touch that every day.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

That's come into.

As we continue expanding our PVD finishes, basically we won't get into a science experiment talking about what PVD stands for.

Super strong coatings for finishes.

And that's even coming in there, where we will put an extra layer that makes those smudges just not appear so tactless and just continue to be that lifetime finish warranty that you get from those PVD finishes.

Yeah.

And it's great.

And by the way, I love the design boards that you guys have over here in the booth.

And if you're watching on video, we've got this.

I'm going to layer over this to show you.

But some of those people who I love, they're great people, but it's fun to see what they came up with, mixing and matching and having some fun with stuff.

I think that's actually a really great way to intro, like, some of the new products that we have going on, because a lot of it actually stemmed from this project strictly at kbis, which I know that sounds crazy, which that actually shows Baldwin's new speed to market the way that we've been working through and bringing new products.

But we always like to work hand in hand with designers, and it's really been a passion of ours, and it a big focus.

You such a huge decision maker within this whole entire purch within process of remodel or whatever it may be.

But Nicholas Moriarty came to me, and he goes, I want to see a satin brass and a polished brass on the same piece.

And I was like.

I nodded along, and I'm like, okay.

Nicholas, we're giving you a shout out here, buddy.

Good to see you.

But when I was, like, looking at it, OG 100%, but when I saw that, I was like, okay, are those brasses?

Like, in my mind, I was like, that's gonna show some yellows or oranges.

How is that gonna work?

And.

And guess what?

Gosh darn it, it is incredible.

That's why they make the big button.

I'm like, that's why I don't question designers, because, honestly, their vision ends up coming up so beautiful each time.

And we did the same with Carol Kurth, who has been with us for a while, she's.

I don't want polished nickel and black.

I want polished chrome and black.

And I was like, all right, let's.

See what we can do happens.

And it looks good.

And sometimes it is just that little variation.

Right?

And we say it all the time.

I probably said it on here last year.

Luxury is attention to detail.

Right.

Luxury is in the details.

And it's just those little variations that sometimes make the difference.

Yeah, I love Nicholas.

Him and I have always been that.

He's the man.

Yeah, we go against the grain sometimes, which is fun.

Sometimes it gets to some nasty looks.

But we're going to tell you exactly what we think.

And that's what I love about this family of Baldwin here, is that through the years, going through stuff, you guys really take the time with what was the design council, and then that morphed into something new.

And as you guys have changed and grown with that, it was really fun to see the attention to detail that you're like, all right, so many brands out there.

And I deal with a ton of them out there.

It's my.

One person over here says that this is the deal, and they go off chasing down this road, and it's like, all right, that's one person.

You guys get such a mix because styles in this country are wild, from Miami to Seattle.

From the geography, it can change so quickly.

Some places are so contemporary, some places are so traditional.

And you guys do a great job of kind of placing people around the country to get those so you can make this beautiful mixture.

Say it's like the tapestry of the brand, right.

Is all these different style cues and where people have come from.

That's another cool thing about Assa being the influences from Europe and other parts of the world.

Valley is a brand that's been in the Assa space for a while, so has some Italian influences.

So for us, it's just this melting pot of Severin as a.

As an.

Was an immigrant himself.

So the melting pot that is this country is, you know, something we try to.

We try to replicate.

And again, seeing those viewpoints from all over the country in the world, yeah.

It was fun sitting there at the first design council meeting that I went to, and Case did a great job of putting us in haunted places back then.

That was awesome.

We loved ghost places, man.

I tell you what.

And this was awesome.

But it was.

I went back and literally, I got home from the trip.

I was turning around tv, chilling out.

Oh, that's on ghost Adventures, literally.

Another one of those paranormal shows was at the other location.

I'm like, they did that to us.

That was funny.

We were just talking about doorknobs there.

Wait a minute.

That was before the smart ones that open up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You'll never forget that experience.

That's what we're all about.

Unforgettable experiences.

It was awesome.

But sitting up there at the.

The.

In the Hollywood Hills, in some of those homes, that.

Lloyd Wrighthouse, that was so amazing.

Back by the pool, it was.

I felt like I was in my own.

It's like, when's Frankson or something?

I was like, a Bond mansion versus.

The rat packs in.

Then up at the Greystone mansion, I'm sitting there going, wait a minute.

I'm sitting there drinking while we're talking in the big.

In the.

Kind of the ballroom right there in that area where the fireplace is from the big Leowski.

And I'm sitting here.

I'm like, wait a minute.

I know this.

That's.

I'm Googling.

I'm like, yeah, that's fireplace.

That's cool.

Okay.

Okay.

This is Lebowski's office.

Exactly.

I think Rory Gilmore went to school there too.

Yeah.

Batman was there for a while.

So, yeah, there's a lot of history of that, which is fun to see the different pieces of that, but.

But that put a lot of fun into creating and inspiring all the different designers there.

And I made some great friendships, and it was fun to see that.

And, yeah, it's cool to reflect on some of those activities and events.

And you just said the word.

The influence of it.

Right.

How we pull from.

That's an AR.

That's architecture 200 some years old.

Yeah.

What can we pull from it?

What can we be a part of and.

And pull from it as well?

And that was cool.

And that was when we rolled out some.

You rolled out Hollywood Hills.

So that was a really transformational age for Baldwin in a great way, because it just opened up some brand new doors.

I think it really set us on the path that Sammy mentioned earlier about.

We were stuck in this traditional rut for a long time.

Then we overcompensated to contemporary Hollywood Hills was.

Let's go back to the middle.

Right?

Because again, the beauty of the finish is depending what finish you put that style in.

And it.

It feels like five different, you know, style venues.

It was definitely, I think, a new course.

Right.

Kind of where we are today as Briar Crest and Nashville and these new families come forward.

It started with Hollywood Hills Yeah.

I look back and go, wow, that was an interesting time.

That was fun.

But you guys, this program right here, and I gotta go back to this, of just literally being able to mix and match and create your own personalized luxury with this, because you can really go, oh, I love this texture, I love this finish.

And I'm going to do something totally unconventional for sure and make it work and make it look beautiful.

Yeah, it's really our first foray in quite some time into this semi custom space.

So it is giving people the opportunity to really create something that's very unique to them and create something that's going to make a unique mark within their home design.

Not only in door hardware, but also within cabinet hardware as well.

Yeah, and that's what I was going to say is what's really exciting for me is I think there are other brands out there that have done mixed metal levers and mixed finish on knobs and things like that.

But what I really think is cool and like you said, Eric, and some of the.

In some of the background footage.

Yeah.

Cremon bolts with mixed finish covers.

You know what a Cremone bolt is.

You'll see it in the background.

It's beautiful.

Rim locks that are.

That are mixed.

So things that we haven't seen in mixed material as much.

Seeing that even come to the forefront too, is exciting.

Yeah, it's.

It's crazy how it's going.

And then I'm like, all right, when are we doing hinges?

When are we gonna get into hinges?

Start throwing some mixed finish on hinges.

See, there we go.

Which throw some screws in there.

There's a little bit of ways that we can do.

So right now I'm looking at it as I look at my trend book.

As you look at some of the hinges and you put some of the finials on top, you can start to play with a little bit.

Okay.

Yeah, just like that.

Little touch of brass maybe, or a little.

A little.

Right?

Yeah, just something that's cool that you can go.

Absolutely.

And it's like, all right.

Cuz when that door's open in the hinge, it's there.

It's there when it's the final.

So it's just another accent, right?

It's a beautiful little.

And once again, it goes into luxuries in the details.

It's those little pieces that you would not expect that suddenly out of nowhere captures your eye and you're like, someone put thought and attention into that little piece to make sure it aligned with everything unexpected.

It's people Calling.

Oh, like that little mint on the pillow, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

It is.

It's that kind of exponents.

I'm like, oh, let's have fun.

Those are the unexpected stuff.

But again, I just love all the different things you're doing in here.

And let's make sure we cover before we run out of time in a little bit here.

Make sure we cover all the new stuff you guys got.

And by the way, there's new stuff coming, too, that we won't talk about, but a lot of new stuff coming in the future that I might have heard a little bit about, but we don't talk about that on the show.

Maybe to a different level.

All right, guys.

No crickets.

All right, guys, lock that one in.

But let's just pour it into cabinet hardware, since that was another big one that we wanted to chat about.

Good topic change.

Go ahead, go ahead.

So not only within mixed metal are we looking at cabinet hardware, but we're looking at and expanding our cabinet hardware collection.

So we've got some beautiful designs, but we are ensuring that the sizing is where we want it to be.

We are not going to just make sure that we're in the few key sizes, but we've expanded to ensure that whatever needs you have, we should be able to provide.

Don't accept missing a kitchen or a bathroom because we skipped or cut a corner or something like that for a cabinet knob.

4, 6, 8, 10, 12 inches.

8, 10, 12, 18, 24 and appliance poles.

That 24 is going to be a beast.

I haven't seen one yet.

The 18s feel like a murder weapon.

Exactly.

The 24 is going to be.

It's going to be a behemoth.

Exactly.

And I know we gave graphite nickel love, but we have to announce that graphite nickel is coming into the cabinet hardware collection now.

Entire cabinet collection all.

Also, quick shift the entire cabinet hardware collection.

One week lead time, except for mixed metal.

Well, except for miss, of course.

You can't rush custom.

Right.

There's a price to pay for that.

Actually, I guess we can rush it a little bit, just not quite as fast as the.

Yeah, still, that's why it's custom.

It's doing it.

So four to six weeks we can do.

Yeah, there we go.

There we go.

And that's the cool part of this.

And you guys are really having fun.

It's cabin hardware is difficult, and it.

You.

You guys understand that it is not an easy space to get into, but it's so important because there's a Door coming into a space or door going out of that space into someplace.

And the more that you can tie those things in together, it just really makes that home make more sense.

And even if you've got a different finish in that different room, which can be fun, you can really mix that in and make it still stay within the Baldwin hardware throughout the house.

But by just changing finish colors, you get.

You have.

Have those little connection points.

But I like this kind of move of individual spaces in the house.

Almost get their own type of vibe or theme.

Not even theme.

Just.

It can vary a little bit, but it's still continuous throughout the home.

That's the genius of design.

Yeah.

You could literally have.

On the first floor.

Let's say it's a.

Oh, let's go satin brass and a matte black, for instance.

You're doing that.

You could go upstairs and you could flip it the other way.

Way the second floor reversing.

Let's throw in some polished nickel or something.

Right.

You totally do something crazy with it.

You have.

You're like tying.

You're like tying common thread.

And then you just get creative with.

Exactly.

Yeah, it looks the same, but the textures and the colors are different.

Familiar, but different.

Right?

Yeah.

Love it.

And those are things that you can do now, which is great.

And you don't have to go down to the hardware store and pick up the 49 lock set down there and wonder why it doesn't work.

And that's also probably a good excuse to bring up block designer and what we're doing from a technology standpoint to try to showcase, because there is so many options with Baldwin.

Like, when you start looking at the portfolio, this alone within the mixed metal, I think was 17,000 SKUs that it's increasing when you start looking at, extrapolating out all those finishes.

But with this new tool that'll be launching here shortly, you're able to visualize pretty much interior, exterior, doors and a really incredible way.

And it gives you a picture of actually what will end up on your door, which I know.

I even have a hard time visualizing.

Okay.

That rose with that left.

Sure.

Are you sure?

Is that going to work?

Visualization.

Right.

It reminds me of if you ever walk through, like, building a car online.

Absolutely.

Where.

Okay, what does this interior color look like?

It changes it immediate.

Oh, okay.

I don't like that one.

Yeah, it's not work.

Spin it around.

Let me see this.

So being able to do that in a similar concept where.

Okay, my door is walnut.

Okay, Let me.

I'm thinking of changing it.

I might paint it white.

Oh, weird.

My hardware looked like this.

Okay, so.

Okay, that's not gonna work.

Yeah.

A thousand options to, like, cycle through, and it.

It makes it a lot easier to do a lot of different selections that way or a lot of explorations without having to have hard samples.

Yeah.

Play around in this digital space, narrow down your selections, and then you can.

Exactly, yeah.

Why sit there and go, okay, I'm gonna try to make.

No, let the smart digital, the smart thing handle that.

There's only so many samples you can keep in your own personal library before it starts getting a little too intense.

So this at least helps narrow down that process into.

Okay, this is what we really do want to see, and this is what the client needs to see to make the decision.

Otherwise, you're mo.

Oh, yeah, sorry.

No, I was gonna say otherwise.

You got the B of samples, right.

You got 4,000 tons of samples over there.

But go ahead, Aaron.

What was I gonna say?

You're talking about.

I think it's formatted for mobile.

Oh, yeah, just.

And yeah, the other great thing with Lock Designer is we know people can be on the go.

Right.

So formatted for mobile.

So desktop PC, whatever we call that these days.

Exactly.

IPad, phone.

You just.

You always have that accessibility.

So you could literally be on a job site and be showing somebody scrolling through.

You could be there.

You can be in the showroom taking a look at it as well really matter.

You're like, oh, that's cool.

Look, let's not look like this.

And you can just grab your phone and go 100%.

It does create a lot of ease because even in a showroom, there's only so much space.

I can't show your favorite knob in all 14 finishes.

That's gonna just be a little too repetitive and not super helpful.

But a lot of clients might not understand specifically what is that going to look like?

And it does bridge the gap between what they're able to have there and what they can actually see.

Especially when you're making decisions like liver, knob, all that stuff.

And then you start putting.

Putting rosettes behind it and you start dealing with all that stuff.

Okay, am I doing a deadbolt?

What am I doing here?

How's that going to work?

And it really makes a difference on pulling those pieces together.

And I think it gives you more ability to actually come up with a really designer look because you start to see it and get inspired and go, oh, but what if I do this?

And that's where you can have some Fun.

It goes back to a word Samantha said earlier is trust.

Right.

If I see what I'm getting, I can actually see it.

Not.

Not.

Not shown in your right finish or shown with a different back plate.

I'm actually seeing exactly what I'm going to get was trust in that.

There is.

There is.

And something like that makes it so much easier.

Just again.

Oh, my gosh.

Nobody wants to put 17,000 SKUs on a website for you to go click through without a sign, or nobody's going to.

It's complex.

But having that help you walk through it, then you're more informed when you go down to the showroom to go make some decisions and go, okay, now I want to talk and feel this.

And you can look at it.

You can literally, as you.

Once you find the design or designs you like, you can click a button, print out like a spec sheet.

And it's not a quote or anything like that, but you go to a sales associate and they know they've got a takeoff point of, oh, I.

I see where you're headed.

Right.

Absolutely.

And you cut out.

You've cut out probably an hour of that appointment.

Yeah.

It makes a big difference with that.

It makes a big difference.

And I.

Another thing I love seeing in here, and it's so obvious, but it's cool.

Cool.

The start to finish on the handle over here on the knob, on going through that or sewing.

Okay, here's a billet of brass.

This is what it looks like with the first big hammer punch of the stamp to hit that and then get into that.

It just shows the quality of that.

Yeah, I think it's just.

It's the best representation of our heritage.

Right back to part number 0001.

So it was a mail slot.

Right.

We still use the same coating.

Yep.

Just.

Severin's family were blacksmiths.

That was their heritage.

And that's just.

Still to this day, just key to what we are.

We're makers, we're craftsmen, we're artisan.

Yep.

We add design, we add style.

But at the end of the day, it's that quality that.

That Baldwin was originally synonymous for.

And that's what we stand up for.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I also think it's a great learning lesson.

As someone who didn't come originally from hardware, I needed to be trained in understanding what the intensity that having a full brass piece actually means and what that does to the product, how it helps the finishes adhere to it, the weight that it has, the longevity it has.

So sitting there and looking at it It's a real life application to understand.

Look at the amount of steps that it takes to make this piece of art that you get in the end.

And it gives you a deeper appreciation for what is being built.

Yeah.

What's cool is the quality because Great example I did this had to been 15 years ago in Seattle in a project and remodel, very custom inlaid doors.

Baldwin hardware had the really cool lock that was up high, the small one that was in there.

You know, it was really sexy.

And we were keeping the doors and he's.

I don't want the brass.

So we took it apart, sent it out, got it powder coated because he wanted another color on it.

And we did it came back still in the house today out there.

And it is just nice smooth surface to.

To finish on top of.

Right.

But it worked great.

And they had the plater take care of it and do all that stuff.

But it was the same locks and they still worked great.

They're 50 plus years old, which was cool.

We've had customers that have had mortise sets in their doors for 35 years.

And you know, they're, they're old polished brass or whatever.

Yeah.

They'll just take the plates off and get new plates.

Leave the mortise locks.

Right.

Because they'll last forever.

Yeah.

You treat them right, they're built to last.

And that's what our warranty stays dates.

They will last forever.

Exactly.

Makes sense.

I love it though.

So, Samantha, got a question for you.

Style wise, where are you seeing things going out in the market that you're seeing out there?

I know it's moving around a lot.

Right now, but it is moving around a lot.

And I think that's a really hard question.

I think that goes to.

Back to that new traditional.

We're seeing a lot more of that.

You're seeing a lot of these elements of cleaner lines.

I do think you're seeing a lot of blends.

And I know this is.

It makes it sound like you volog me this question to answer specifically for the stuff in front of me.

Set that up.

That's not the case.

We don't do that much setup for these.

But when you start looking at how many different brands that you're bringing into a space.

Let's look at kitchens, you're looking at plumbing, you're looking at your oven range.

You're looking at several different elements that do have metal tones to it.

So you're seeing a lot of really creative use of blending metals to make something that's a piece of Art.

So I think that is going to continue to be something that will.

Will thrive within the market.

And then I do think you're starting to see obviously things going warmer.

So black is going to continue to go, I think down.

I think you're going to see that's why graphite nickel is nice.

Because not only is it gray, it holds true to people that love black.

But when you put it against darker colors, it has a really warm undertone.

Yeah.

So it's really beautiful with the way that it shines.

But that would be some of the.

My biggest.

I also think big plates are coming back too.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Something about having a statement piece throughout your home and it's especially in some of the more bolder brasses.

I think it's something that really is a point of pride and it's a little piece of jewelry.

Yeah, I stole my answer a little bit.

Yeah.

And you mentioned it earlier, but I think we mentioned with the b.

But even like larger appliance poles, we're seeing larger doors.

Go look at some of the appliance companies and some of the size of those ranges and those fringes that we need to get these appliances appliance pulls onto.

And then we talked about the different knobs sizes and things and plates.

So I think scale as people just continue to be unique even in the door spaces and things like that and be unique.

So we need to have more unique options to fit, you know, that other language and other parts of the home.

Oh yeah.

I'd love to see come back something like the diamond shaped plates and things like that that we would see.

Sorry.

See.

Okay, guys, this is the 2025 Design Kit Council time.

Right now I've been trying to figure out how you offset one of those back plates to make it engineering.

We need to put the engineering team on that one.

You know what I mean?

We'll call it the error.

I just love that you said that because I literally was probably six months.

Oh, I like that.

Okay.

Done.

All right.

On the floor in 2025 we named it it's done.

But yeah, to me that would be so cool.

And you could do something that was diamond.

You could do something.

We swoop the edges in to give it a little bit of style too, too.

It's not just a regular diamond.

You just trigger something else.

For me.

I'm also noticing asymmetry.

Yeah, asymmetry is coming in big.

So that's something I think we want to explore and see how we picture out there.

Two, two knobs on Two doors.

Right.

They might not be perfect.

They're a little oblong.

Yeah.

They're a little different.

Some of that.

You could mirror that.

Organic character.

I was gonna say organic, to me, is also another big one, because asymmetry can play in really sharp lines.

Lines.

And still be asymmetrical, but organic shapes.

Yeah, There we go.

Natural.

Whatever you want to say.

But seeing a lot of that too.

Yeah.

100.

Yeah.

And of course, colors.

We see the show here for the last 12 or 15 years, it seemed like we had the magnolia gray out there going everywhere, and now we're seeing color and texture.

Just boom.

You walk into one of these tile spaces or any one of these other places.

Places, it's just like, oh, wow.

Lots of greens.

Lots of bolds.

Yeah.

Reds.

People are not afraid to be bold.

And I love that because.

And I think that goes back to individuality as well.

Like when you start thinking of when you're working with what you specifically want, or if you're working with a designer, something that feels so specifically you.

And that could be super bold, or it could be super minimal.

But having those options in order to create that is what's going to be incredibly necessary.

I'm seeing a lot of late 70s colors reimagined.

The brown clayish colors.

That stuff that you saw about to.

Redo our mid century conversation.

Exactly.

But it's that thing, you know, when.

Are we gonna have sunken couches?

That's what I want to know.

I'm ready for that.

We were talking about that earlier.

We were having this discussion about doing those conversation pieces.

I was at a house on my TV show that I was showing earlier.

Oh, my gosh.

This looked like it was at a Mad Men.

I love a good sunken couch.

Something about it.

It's just such a conversation moment.

And relax.

Yeah.

This was a radiused sunken couch with a radius fireplace in front of it.

And what was crazy was, is when you walked into this house, it's in Lake Oswego, up the street from me, and for a mere eight and a half million dollars, I could have bought it.

Didn't have it.

Didn't have it on.

You didn't have it.

Gotta get some better.

Your sponsors, too.

Sheesh.

All right, Elon, we need some Tesla sponsorship money over here, even though you don't sponsor anything.

But I was right in the tunnel, though.

That was nice.

But seriously, you get into this and this house was funny because had this, like, in green, like olive.

Olive silverish green velvet.

I'm like, that's beautiful.

And he goes.

I go, did you just find that?

He goes, no.

We took off the orange pleather that was over the top of it, and that was hiding underneath it.

That's nuts.

And it's just.

I'm like, they didn't ruin it.

Awesome.

But that was original.

And that's.

I think those sunken things and those radiuses, again, are like you were saying, Samantha.

It's just one of those things that that stuff's coming back in.

And I think that style is really back into resonance again.

Of like we always do.

We take something that was old re, reimagine it and make it new again with the colors that we're seeing out there.

Do some refinement and just make it a little bit different again.

Familiar, but different.

Like we said before.

Is that Kohler?

I think last year they had had an avocado reimagined saw that.

Yeah.

I'll call it Avocado Toast because it's like making it back again something different.

It was new, but it was like, oh, maybe that's a little much, but I get it.

Yeah, I get it.

But there's going to be a home for it.

That's what also is very unique.

And that's why I love the idea of us bringing together lock designer in a really big way, because having those moments that you can create something so unique, no one else in the world might like it, but that's fine.

It's your home.

It's your space.

You should design.

Design exactly what you want to see every day.

And giving them that freedom to be able to do, whether it's a bright green toilet or.

Yeah.

If it's a giant, shiny living brass plate that's going on your front door.

You need to have that availability to create something that's really specifically for you.

And design wise, it's cool, too, because, like, you got that powder room that you want to make this great statement piece.

You've invested in this crazy faucet, this crazy sink.

Why go with the rest of the house on the lot?

Do something nutty, do something wild.

That style segmentation.

Right.

Different parts of the house, like taking some risks.

It's awesome to see without hurting the durability.

Yeah, that's the fun part.

Exactly.

All right, we're running out of time.

What have we not talked about, guys?

And I know there's some things we're not going to talk about, so I got to say that right now.

But I'll keep my mouth shut this time.

Don't get the other stink guy from Sam.

I was gonna say after we said that we were gonna talk about it.

You just throw it in.

We didn't know.

We didn't stop.

Wink, wink.

I'm a fan of puns.

What can I say?

Absolutely.

Some of the fun you can have.

Yeah, we kept the dad jokes out of this pretty well for us.

For us.

Yeah.

There, that's good.

But what else is happening that's new and exciting we're seeing.

Gosh, now my brain just stopped thinking.

I'll say one more thing.

We.

We've spoken, spoken a lot about estate today.

Right.

That's the flagship.

That's our flagship brand again.

That's the heritage of Severin and, and everything he started came from that part of our portfolio.

But we've got this pretty cool brand called Reserve that's come a long way.

Launched about the time Eric, I think we started getting together and again, won't say much about it now, but that's going to take a huge overhaul later this year, really just expanding style there.

That's another line that could use.

It could use a little bit of some tlc.

So stay tuned for that.

There's a lot of great value in that, which is cool.

Cuz you get something that's beautiful and some people just can't afford or don't want to spend their money on that level but still want something that's going to be quality and it's still going to look beautiful.

So it fits that hole.

It's another one of those flexibilities we try to give our customers.

Right.

We have a budget for each home, each room, each floor of the home.

Right.

We're not above a state on the first floor, Reserve on the second.

Second floor.

So just whatever solution works best for the client.

Yeah, it makes sense.

And I think that actually is a good foray into talking about how Baldwin is handling their business in general, especially over the last couple of years, is we're really focused on easing the process for every single person that's touching this hardware.

As we talked about, it can get complicated and sometimes there's people that don't have the time or the energy to get through that level of complication.

But we're trying to ease whether it's with Quick Ship, whether it's ensuring the accuracy, secrecy of shipping timelines or whether it's even the way that we've looked at our price book and our digital experience to really bring the best experience forth for all people that touch the brand.

Because I know all three of us at this table are really passionate about it.

But I want the world to be passionate about it and to understand it.

And I think we're really tackling that one step at a time.

Absolutely.

Making it obtainable.

Exactly.

And of course, people can go to the website and take a look at this stuff as it comes out.

They'll see it through there first.

Where do they go?

Baldwin Hardware.com or follow us at Baldwin Hardware on Instagram.

Yeah.

Or sign up for our emails.

That's actually a solid one.

That's the one.

The best place.

That's the move.

Could be the move.

It's where you're getting a lot more of a not just fact driven sort of situation.

You're getting a little bit more insight into there.

You're getting some designer feedback or showroom feedback, but it's giving you a holistic kind of picture of all things.

So email.

Email is a great way to connect.

What's cool too is I think, and credit goes to Samantha and the marketing team is not only designers, but you're seeing our customers posting pictures and showing projects.

So it's a great way to see like real world application, but also see the personal site.

We're a tapestry of people.

That's what we say at Baldwin.

Right?

We're.

And that's what Severin always, always put forward.

So the collaboration is such a key to this team and to this brand that comes through.

That comes through in our social as well.

And by the way, you guys, putting your social media manager in my neighborhood, this is going to be freaking dangerous.

Here we go.

You threw up my backyard.

She's like, let's meet the restaurant down the street from your house.

I'm like, oh, this is going to be dangerous.

We're going to have some fun now.

I love it.

All right, guys, thanks for having me out.

All as always.

This is like homecoming week coming back here.

I just love coming back in here because you guys are family and I love what this brand is and what you guys are doing.

Just the sexy hardware that's in this booth is amazing.

This is always such a fun last day of the show of getting to sit there and debrief, hear what your thoughts are on the show and get your take.

Because you've been such a big part of the Baldwin family for so long.

It looks like the show can't end until this happens.

Exactly.

It's good news, everybody.

We're getting close.

Hold on.

It's so funny because we'll be booking the show out.

People go, hey, though, how's it on Thursday.

You always go.

It's booked.

It booked.

You have a spot, you have a family to back.

This is the reunion right here.

This is the band getting back together.

I love it.

First time, our first trip in Orlando.

We've done this in Orlando before.

We haven't done in Orlando next year.

Oh, you're right.

Yeah.

Next year in Orlando.

Yep.

Cuz I was on stage that year, doing all my stuff then.

So I was up in the technology stage.

So we didn't do it that year.

It's going to be back into the humidity.

All right, Humidity.

Strip malls and crocodiles.

Crocodiles and traffic.

Exactly.

So our friends in Florida.

So.

All right, guys, this has been fun.

I'm Eric G.

And you've been listening to around the House.