[00:00:04] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. I think I do like that you guys as a former design council member under the old format, that was a lot of fun. Yeah. Design council alumni going out and meeting so many different personalities that represent so many different styles, because me being from the Pacific Northwest, we have a certain kind of style there, but you get down into Palm Springs or Atlanta, Georgia, or Boston or Chicago.

[00:00:33] Eric Goranson: There's all these. These different kind of facets to design that have their own local influences. And it was really

[00:00:39] Aaron Brueck: fun to see that. Yeah. The unique, just the unique characteristics or themes that we see from different parts of the country and just the design counselor that you're a part of to the design authority now.

[00:00:50] Aaron Brueck: Kudos to Sammy for making sure we have those different voices and that, that when it comes to remodeling and

[00:00:57] Eric Goranson: renovating your home, there is a lot to [00:01:00] know, but we've got you covered.

[00:01:02] Aaron Brueck: Best

[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: is

[00:01:03] Aaron Brueck: around the house. Welcome to the

[00:01:05] Eric Goranson: round the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education.

[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining us today. I am in probably my most favorite booth with some of my favorite people. We are here with Baldwin hardware guys. Thanks for having

[00:01:20] Aaron Brueck: me in again. Happy to be here.

[00:01:22] Samantha Deacon: Very excited to have us all together again. Yeah,

[00:01:24] Eric Goranson: this is always good. Let's do the introductions again so people can know the face.

[00:01:28] Eric Goranson: We'll go with Sammy

[00:01:29] Samantha Deacon: first. I'm Sammy, Samantha Deacon, for those of you that don't know me, unformally, but everyone that knows me and loves me calls me Sammy. I'm in charge of brand marketing here at Baldwin, and very proud to have us all in the booth today.

[00:01:41] Aaron Brueck: Yeah, and Aaron Brick, also with Baldwin Hardware, and I lead the sales team for Baldwin.

[00:01:46] Aaron Brueck: And my partner in crime, Sam Sims. One microbrewery at a time, right? Absolutely.

[00:01:50] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. One ugly oyster at a time. Good times guys. This booth is my favorite one I've ever seen you guys do. This is [00:02:00] stunning. You're showing so much cool stuff. Credit

[00:02:03] Aaron Brueck: to this one over here. Yeah. It's the visionary. It was

[00:02:06] Samantha Deacon: really exciting this year.

[00:02:07] Samantha Deacon: We got a really good footprint. We got a good location in the booth. Everyone is very excited and it gave us an opportunity to say, okay, I've got some cash in my pocket. What do I do to have some fun and what do I do to tell a brand story that we're all Very, very proud of, and how do we do so a little bit differently than we've seen from the past?

[00:02:25] Samantha Deacon: And so it was a labor of love that honestly has paid off like no one's business and it's something that I think everyone that's walked through that has a level of pride for Baldwin feels it and loves it as well. So I'm very

[00:02:38] Aaron Brueck: excited. Yeah. Hats off. That was awesome. Yeah, definitely. I think it might've been tough love by Monday night at nine o'clock.

[00:02:44] Aaron Brueck: We were still here getting stuff ready, but no, all joking aside. Like I said, Sammy has curated this into. There's so many different discussion topics. Now we have the space to really talk about all the things that we're just so excited that that are going on for us right now from [00:03:00] product to just focus on new resources, just be able to have our customers at both new old and new are coming up soon that see all these things that are coming from this new ownership group.

[00:03:11] Aaron Brueck: And like Sammy said, a little cash in the pocket to really help everybody out.

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Let's talk about this because. You guys went through a transition and it has been so exciting to watch for me because Anytime a company can get back to its roots again with new ownership. Sometimes those things go good.

[00:03:29] Eric Goranson: They go bad But to me, this has been an absolutely beautiful Change for Baldwin in the right direction where you guys are like, okay, we're gonna get back to what we've done so far So well for generations and now it's time to rock it.

[00:03:43] Samantha Deacon: What's really exciting is under this transition, we actually became a standalone organization internally, which I know I don't want to get into the nitty gritty because that's corporate structure and that's not nearly as exciting, but when it comes to in general, the look and support that's coming from our new parent company, it's giving us a lot [00:04:00] of excitement to be able to take this brand and push it in the direction that we've wanted to and given us the freedom because we are standing alone to run at the See that Baldwin has been doing, but there's no longer anything that's really turning the cogwheels of corporate America of sorts.

[00:04:17] Samantha Deacon: So it's, it's really been an incredible opportunity and sitting there and seeing some of the senior members of the awesome team walk through this booth at the beginning of this week, even seeing their eyes of excitement is just something that I know I'm very proud of and I'm very excited to see where this future is going to land going forward.

[00:04:35] Eric Goranson: Yeah. As a non company person for you guys. Seeing a hardware familiar company buy a hardware company. It's okay. That is awesome. Cause you guys can really put the foot back in the gas. Where you guys are having a good time out there and this booth

[00:04:49] Aaron Brueck: shows it this year. Yeah, absolutely I think what we're seeing is every lover of Baldwin knew this was what was possible and what we needed to get back to So to see that actually [00:05:00] happening for someone that's been with the company for close to 20 years It's it's you said it you said it well Eric.

[00:05:05] Aaron Brueck: It's a return to our heritage Yeah I didn't and we do have this feel of a small tight knit team and just sharing that on a bigger scale with everybody is It's just been really Yeah, it's great. Let's

[00:05:18] Eric Goranson: talk about with that, the, the beauty in this booth, that B Baldwin over there. I'm going to share that up on social media here.

[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: Take a look on the around the house page. That is sick. Stunning. We've got a what? Eight foot high letter B over there with so much brass. That is cool.

[00:05:37] Aaron Brueck: 208

[00:05:38] Samantha Deacon: pieces of brass. It took eight men to lift that onto the wall. It came in four different pieces. It's a quite a piece of artwork. One of our big themes this year that is tying a lot of the booth together is realistically, when you look at the level of hardware that Baldwin does create, it really is a piece of function that turns into something that is a work of art.

[00:05:59] Samantha Deacon: And so we [00:06:00] are trying to figure out some of these unique ways to showcase works of art within our booth and show the appreciation we have for that solid brass element that all of us use on a daily basis.

[00:06:10] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that is one nice thing in with Baldwin and the quality you have your different families of the different lines of Baldwin But I tell you what if you want something that's solid metal that you get what you pay for That is built like it was 70 years ago, but with a better higher more technical finish It's gonna last longer Longer that innovation, but heritage

[00:06:34] Aaron Brueck: is all in that same package.

[00:06:36] Aaron Brueck: It's a, it's a nice balance, right? Staying true to the legacy of our founders, Severn Fairman, but continuing to, to deliver a world class and innovative solution across whether it be doors, general hardware, cabinet hardware, just continuing the quest for being better, that's, that's what we owe Severn.

[00:06:56] Aaron Brueck: That's what we owe everybody in this brand. And that's what we owe our customers that have. Stuck [00:07:00] with us through, we'll just call some, some thinner times. And again, we're just all here together. Just so excited about, we're just getting started, but what the future now looks like, which is great.

[00:07:11] Eric Goranson: And the style in here, this is not your grandfather's Baldwin, shall we say, and I say that respectfully because there was that deep traditional style that went back during those times.

[00:07:25] Eric Goranson: Right. But now you've got stuff with mixed metals in the contemporary and the elegance and all the different parts of that. There's really a piece of hardware for any home in this, in this display here.

[00:07:38] Samantha Deacon: And so in the front of the booth, as you walked in, there's this collaboration that we did with a artist based out of LA, his name is risk.

[00:07:46] Samantha Deacon: And he is a world renowned graffiti artist who has now gone far surpassed that. But some of the elements that we brought into that art is he's, he's creating a full eight foot. Tall exterior door that he has painted with [00:08:00] Baldwin hardware on it. And we went through and handed him certain pieces of hardware.

[00:08:04] Samantha Deacon: And on there, there's all the way from contemporary to truly traditional pieces, but looking at it from this unique lens, from an artist experience, really to showcase that all the way from the traditional pieces we've always known and love to some of the modern stuff that we've been creating a little bit more recently, we are able to kind of allow the style to show through and it works for everyone.

[00:08:26] Samantha Deacon: So we have. We have it all. And it really is more than just our old school ballgown pieces that we're far more known for than the rest.

[00:08:34] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And that's the cool part of it. Doesn't matter what the style is. You can still, that hardware adds that elegance to the traditional, to the contemporary, to that transitional, whatever you're doing, that's the What's that piece of jewelry in the home that takes it to that next level?

[00:08:50] Eric Goranson: I

[00:08:50] Samantha Deacon: think the phrase timeless design is something that we really try to stand for. No matter the style of hardware, no matter the design style that we're really trying to go for, it is [00:09:00] focused more on the timelessness of what we're bringing to it. So even if it might be the most contemporary of knobs, it's something that we want to make sure isn't going to be a trend focused element.

[00:09:09] Samantha Deacon: It's going to be in your home because these are hardware pieces and finishes that really last a lifetime.

[00:09:14] Eric Goranson: And they do. Yeah. And. And that's the fun part. And I, I think back to my early Baldwin days, keen years ago when, when I had a client that had a really nice home up in Seattle and they love the hardware so much, but they didn't like the brass.

[00:09:29] Eric Goranson: Cause that was the time of year that they're like, Hey, I want to get this polished brass out of here. We took that. And so. We sent it off to get powder coated and refinished because the quality was, we're not putting new in, we want the exact same style. We just wanted to update the finish. We sent it off and had it powder coated because they still wanted to have that same hardware back in the house, but wanted the twist.

[00:09:53] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. I think that's, it's so awesome because we, what we really want to do is just empower and promote the Baldwin [00:10:00] customer to make it their own. And we've given so many levels of size, fit, finish, function to really come in and make, make your own take, make your own statement. Um, you know, we have the lock designer being showcased this week.

[00:10:15] Aaron Brueck: It's going to launch here and Sammy, I don't know, I'd say, yeah, it's

[00:10:18] Samantha Deacon: a month or two. Yeah.

[00:10:20] Aaron Brueck: You guys,

[00:10:21] Eric Goranson: you guys get a test. We're going to throw this out there. You guys probably have eight levels of testing of, Oh, definitely. Hey, let's see if you can break this for six hours and then see what happens.

[00:10:31] Aaron Brueck: Yeah.

[00:10:31] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. But being able to showcase even just a couple of features of that this week just goes and just furthers that theme of make it your own, you know, we'll, we'll curate, right. We'll give you some ideas, but at the end of the day, we want it to be personal to you

[00:10:43] Eric Goranson: and that's. That's what's cool is because you guys have so many different finishes, so many different styles.

[00:10:48] Eric Goranson: You can take that knob and put something behind it in that Rosetta or whatever else and completely twist it with mixed metals and things like that and styles

[00:10:57] Aaron Brueck: and mixed metals been cool. And it's such a, such a good [00:11:00] timing with the lock designer coming out because it's just, it's just even a different level of possibilities.

[00:11:06] Aaron Brueck: Yeah, absolutely. Completely

[00:11:08] Eric Goranson: agree. So let's. Sam, let's talk about the colors and stuff right now, because you guys have always, over the last year or two, have really started to come out with these leading edge color tones and stuff and finishes that have blown the rest of the marketplace away going, that is cool.

[00:11:23] Eric Goranson: Where did you get that from? And I know you've been a big part of that. So

[00:11:26] Samantha Deacon: I'm really excited. I have to point out graphite nickel very quickly. I know it's not brand brand new, but we're, we're about a year into it. And it's been a incredible statement piece for Baldwin as a whole. We've actually won five different awards based on that finish alone.

[00:11:40] Samantha Deacon: One of which I'm, I'm really excited. I know you were with us as we were winning this at DBHA. It was a very exciting time, but graphite nickel is this really unique, cool gray tone that has a slight sheen to it, but when you put it against different tones, it really pulls up different colors. And because it's almost a gun metal esque, [00:12:00] similar to what we were talking about before taking some of those traditional pieces, you put a gun metal to it, it becomes really rock and roll in two seconds, as opposed to something that in polished brass looks like it should be in a colonial home or I don't even know where.

[00:12:12] Samantha Deacon: Yeah. So, it is a very, very fun finish for us, but another thing we've been working on, and a lot of this comes from Gramercy, is this mixed metal, like we just talked about with our tool. Our new Gramercy collection specializes in allowing you to have mixed metal within that same handle set. And it's so it

[00:12:29] Eric Goranson: brings

[00:12:30] Aaron Brueck: that

[00:12:31] Eric Goranson: element.

[00:12:32] Eric Goranson: We see stuff, right? This is a live show. So that's the cool part here. It's what is going on here. It's Vegas. There could be some walk a peacock around here. You just never

[00:12:44] Samantha Deacon: know. But anyways, two colors, singular handle set. So it allows, if you want to play with mixed metal on the interior of your home, even from a rose and just a lever perspective, it allows you to have it on the exterior as well, as long as.

[00:12:57] Samantha Deacon: As well as door pulls, and it also goes to cabinet [00:13:00] hardware. We're really excited about Gramercy.

[00:13:02] Eric Goranson: Yeah, no, it is beautiful. And that's some of the fun

[00:13:04] Aaron Brueck: stuff. And some of

[00:13:07] Eric Goranson: this stuff is so rock and roll and I love rock and roll, but it's just, you can do so much stuff with this. And that's where the designer and me get so excited because.

[00:13:15] Eric Goranson: There's a limitless number of options here. I'm sure you guys have probably done the math of how many options there are, but it's got to be like millions or

[00:13:22] Aaron Brueck: something for me, Eric, I leave that to the engineers, but yeah. And you know, Sammy touched on something there with graph or with a grammar, C, excuse me, where again, not only can you get into the mixed metal finishes, but even the knurling or non nurling.

[00:13:36] Aaron Brueck: So getting some score crosshatch detail is really good tactically on, on the hand as you, as you touch the full or the lever. So it's, again, the, the, the world. All the possibilities within different, even within one style, just the little variations that people can make. So just really a luxury experience is what we're trying to create.

[00:13:54] Aaron Brueck: And the cool

[00:13:55] Eric Goranson: thing is, is then you start putting styles, mixing those styles together within the lock [00:14:00] designer. Right.

[00:14:00] Aaron Brueck: So that's cool. They're not all first round picks. They're not all first round picks, but this is really cool. This is really cool things. It's been fun. Just watching people stumble upon, Oh, wow.

[00:14:09] Aaron Brueck: That actually, that actually works together. Like maybe we'll, maybe we'll try this

[00:14:14] Samantha Deacon: out. All it takes is one, our finish board that we have in the booth right now. All it takes is one person that said, I really like this eggnog with this very unique rose and all of us looked at it. We're like, wait, we, it's a very contemporary rose with an eggnog.

[00:14:25] Samantha Deacon: You wouldn't necessarily think would be your first round pick. But the second you see it, you're like, that's actually really stunning. Why? Haven't we seen this before? And it's one person's great idea that becomes a really hot take that we all fall in

[00:14:37] Eric Goranson: love with. I loved last year when you guys brought out really the reimagined cabinet hardware and furniture hardware, because now you can expand that to the rest of the room now.

[00:14:49] Eric Goranson: Whether it's a The bathroom, whether it's the kitchen or, or even you've got, uh, cabinetry. You, when you front walk into the front door, you've got some kind of a storage there that really adds that [00:15:00] extra element to be able to bring those two pieces together. Definitely

[00:15:03] Samantha Deacon: watching even mixed metal get brought into the cabinets is a very unique take.

[00:15:06] Samantha Deacon: We have these really nice back plates. Mm-Hmm for some of our elements. And sitting there and playing with different colors within your back plate than you would on the actual pole, just adds a really crisp moment that then can transition into having an L 30. One of our mixed metal lovers found throughout your whole internal.

[00:15:23] Samantha Deacon: And

[00:15:23] Aaron Brueck: it looks so good. Yeah. And that, that story, just being able to carry it further and further into the home. Right. Yeah. And it's not that even has to be a matchy matchy thing, but just being able to curate that theme throughout the entire, throughout the entire living space. It just, it's been a very fun journey.

[00:15:38] Aaron Brueck: And again, great timing with, with the ASA, with the ASA transition from the ownership perspective is that, that resource and that support to make sure we stay fresh. Cabinets. Those times are fast, so we know we need to really step that up and our product team, living this mantra of every 90 days, you know, we need to [00:16:00] be bringing something new to market.

[00:16:01] Aaron Brueck: And that's, that's, that's where we're headed. And that's

[00:16:04] Eric Goranson: a fast turn in the production side, design side of things. Cause it's one thing to draw something. something out and make it look beautiful, but now you've got to produce it. And that's a whole other thing of, okay, how does this go together? And then fit it into the lineup.

[00:16:17] Samantha Deacon: Thankfully, we have a couple of new staff members that that's their job and I don't have to think about

[00:16:21] Eric Goranson: it that much. I

[00:16:23] Aaron Brueck: like it.

[00:16:23] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. That's the thing about, I love here too, that you really show in this booth, the history of Baldwin hardware. And that is something Such a legacy out there. And you guys have such an amazing brand with that.

[00:16:38] Eric Goranson: That's one of those things that when you bring up that name, people go, Oh yeah, this is

[00:16:43] Aaron Brueck: cool. That's why we're all here. It was, it was Severance vision and, and just anybody listening, if you don't know the Severn Fairman story, Holocaust survivor won't go in, in all the details, but just an amazing story.

[00:16:55] Aaron Brueck: Really the personification of the American dream emigrated through Ellis Island and [00:17:00] to take that and 15 years later, be in the white house, putting his heart around the white. It has a level of pride that emotes from this team based on what he did. Yeah. Awesome. Picture him in the booth over here. Yeah.

[00:17:09] Aaron Brueck: Isn't that cool. History of distinction and just the pride this man exuded every single day. Anybody that's listening right now that knew him is smiling right now. Cause they're thinking of the excitement in this like five, five, one little Polish guy that just, just loved what he did. Love the people behind the brand he created.

[00:17:27] Aaron Brueck: And again, that's the responsibility we feel and why we're so happy to be in this.

[00:17:34] Samantha Deacon: And I'm happy to be able to brag about it because to be honest with you, you have a whole new wave of designers that are entering into this hardware space that they are now really starting to understand that getting detailed within your hardware choices is necessary in order to pull a whole room together, which we are very excited because we've been wanting this to be the case for a long time.

[00:17:55] Samantha Deacon: And so some people don't know the whole story. So taking a moment [00:18:00] to give credit where it's due. do talk about how we got here and the different elements that he really did instill in the brand, ensuring that quality was number one, sitting there and working through elements of having brass be a core element of several of the items we're making.

[00:18:14] Samantha Deacon: All of these things are what's bringing us to this point today. And it's been exciting kind of showing new individuals where this history has taken us to now.

[00:18:23] Aaron Brueck: Yeah, and it's Something I know looking back right now, he's probably looking at it, going, okay, they're killing it. His spirit of collaboration was amazing.

[00:18:31] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. And I feel that in a big way, whether it's we're working through our next launch ideas now, and there's things we want to test. There's things that we want to have the market react to. We are sending samples out to our best customers and saying, beat this thing up. Tell us what's wrong. wrong with it.

[00:18:47] Aaron Brueck: So that, that level of back and forth, Sammy bringing our, our design authority into this as well. And making sure we're talking to them about trends and what they're seeing and just making sure that we're seeing it from their lens as well. We don't, we don't [00:19:00] want to be, we don't want to be in the ivory tower.

[00:19:02] Aaron Brueck: Do you think this is a good idea? I do. You do. This is great. We need to get out there and test that and make sure that we are being true to the market and what, what our customers expect of us.

[00:19:12] Samantha Deacon: And I think taking collaboration even a step further yesterday, we did have a very new panel happening in the booth.

[00:19:17] Samantha Deacon: It took collaboration to a whole new level, looking at all the way from publications and how they're viewing design to having two other luxury brands in the booth, start this discussion with a designer about how we are all moving this industry forward. And how are we all starting to work together?

[00:19:32] Samantha Deacon: Because if you are not a competitive hardware brand in the space, we all work together. Like you need countertops in order to put them in kitchens where our cabinet hardware is going, we need lighting in every room that happens to have a doorknob. So all of. These groups should start working together.

[00:19:49] Samantha Deacon: And it's been something that's been a very exciting, I think, next frontier for Baldwin is sitting there and making sure that collaboration goes beyond just the internal and starts working also to the external

[00:19:59] Eric Goranson: as well. [00:20:00] It's so true. And that's one thing I do like that you guys as a former design council.

[00:20:04] Eric Goranson: format. That was a lot of fun. I design council alumni going out and meeting so many different personalities that represent so many different styles, because me being from the Pacific Northwest, we have a certain kind of style there, but you get down into Palm Springs or Atlanta, Georgia, or Boston or Chicago, there's all these different kind of facets.

[00:20:31] Eric Goranson: To design that have their own local influences. And it was really fun to see that. Yeah.

[00:20:36] Aaron Brueck: Sort of the unique, just the unique characteristics or themes that we see from different parts of the country. And just to the design counselor that you were a part of to the design authority. Now, you know, kudos to Sammy for making sure we have those different voices and that, that not even friction, but just that exchange of ideas and hearing other people's perspectives back to that idea of collaboration, just, we get the best out of ourselves [00:21:00] when we are.

[00:21:01] Aaron Brueck: Open to different ideas and that finished product of collaboration is so much better because yeah, we had

[00:21:07] Eric Goranson: fun It was friction is a good word because we had creative friction. Yep We had a we had a spirited healthy friendly debate we get into a subject and know what about this I think it's this yeah, but it was all collaborative which was really fun and it was Fun to go through and, and, and pick something and go design something and put pencil to paper and, and, and have a creative process with that.

[00:21:31] Eric Goranson: And for you guys to, to help create that place for us to collaborate with you. And then the fun part was seeing the year, those little. Some discussions come out into

[00:21:43] Aaron Brueck: products, right? For sure. And it's

[00:21:46] Samantha Deacon: still to this day. We just two weeks ago came back from modernism week and brought a few of those design authority members out there.

[00:21:53] Samantha Deacon: We, we have a very small group just because then conversations I can hear [00:22:00] everyone, that's the other element of it, but we have designers in the room that come from, everyone has to come from a different state and everyone has own specific style that we took a look at and made sure that everyone. Kind of plays in their own playground, but it's also has the personality and the attitude and is excited about Baldwin as we are.

[00:22:18] Samantha Deacon: And so it was really fun to watch that collaboration come to life. And I think we all learned a lot from that huge seminar that we had. Yeah. You

[00:22:26] Eric Goranson: put 30 designers in a room. What are you talking about? We love to talk. Yeah, I get that. You want to do the handful.

[00:22:34] Aaron Brueck: Kind of, and that's, that's really what it comes down to is we're all here.

[00:22:37] Aaron Brueck: Cause we want it to be here. We're all checking a box. Yeah. So it really is. We, we want, we want to have the hardware speak for those passions.

[00:22:46] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And that's the fun part though. And, and also your challenge manufacturer in design is that Need this to be relevant in South Florida and Chicago and Boston and LA and [00:23:00] anywhere else in the world.

[00:23:01] Eric Goranson: Right. Absolutely. But that

[00:23:03] Samantha Deacon: I think goes back to timelessness also too, because there is an element of that, that like sitting there and ensuring that we have styles that go into all of these different pockets, but they really are somewhat streamlined and they have this one center focus that does make it Baldwin does allow for it to work

[00:23:19] Eric Goranson: for everyone.

[00:23:20] Eric Goranson: Yeah, absolutely. So what's new and exciting coming up.

[00:23:24] Samantha Deacon: New and exciting, so we, we touched on Loft Designer. Yep. We touched on Gramercy. Those are, those are most new and exciting elements that are coming through the booth. We did talk, we haven't talked about some of the elements. We did look at some new trends and stuff that we're looking way, way far out ideas down the road.

[00:23:41] Samantha Deacon: Alright. Um, looking at some different finishes that we might see as being popular. Cool. Getting some feedback. Very excited about the potential of, of the feedback and the responses we got. Yep. Yep. I don't know if you heard anything in particular.

[00:23:55] Aaron Brueck: I think it's, it's pretty cool because the section of the booth we're talking about is showcasing two [00:24:00] things.

[00:24:00] Aaron Brueck: It's showcasing what Sammy just mentioned. Hey, potential finishes that are, that are coming into, into trend and things we should look at from a new perspective. So that's the one angle, but the one that is really, I think, driving a lot of discussion is the other side of it is, Hey, what are things from our past that we may have discontinued or just, just, just fell out of.

[00:24:22] Aaron Brueck: Favor, you know, whatever you want to

[00:24:24] Samantha Deacon: call it. The fashion girly and me calls it our archival

[00:24:27] Eric Goranson: looks. There we go. That's actually a, that's where she's in marketing.

[00:24:32] Aaron Brueck: Yeah, exactly. So, so I think it's a cool balance of once again, true to form to our history and, and, uh, tip of the cap to, Hey, we've done so many things in our 75 plus year history, are there any things that we should go back and resurrect?

[00:24:50] Aaron Brueck: And again, that that's also credit. it to this new, this new, uh, kind of arrangement in the ownership world we have is we're being empowered to think creatively, right? Don't, [00:25:00] don't be boxed into, Hey, you can only move forward in this way or that way, expand what you've got, call back to your archival products and be responsible with what's coming down, coming down the pike.

[00:25:12] Aaron Brueck: And again, make sure we're representative to the market that our

[00:25:17] Eric Goranson: customers need us to be. Yeah. It's so funny. You look back at what the styles are. We have this big mid century. And now we've gone into that late mid century 70s style now that's been pushing in. You're seeing around the show floor today when you walk around over a dowel tile earlier.

[00:25:33] Eric Goranson: It was so fun to see this kind of wood pattern wall that looks like it's a new version out of somebody's wooden wall paneling out of your grandparent's building. Basement in the seventies. And these kids are going, this is amazing. I've never seen it before. And I'm like, okay, we saw call your grandpa.

[00:25:49] Eric Goranson: They probably still have it.

[00:25:50] Samantha Deacon: What's old is new again. It always is. It'll always come back in

[00:25:54] Eric Goranson: style. It does. And there's always that, but there's that new kind of like modern take of it. Like Kohler in their [00:26:00] booth last year brought out all those different colors. It was the avocado green, but a twist. Yeah,

[00:26:07] Aaron Brueck: familiar but different with the twist.

[00:26:08] Aaron Brueck: Familiar, but different. So that's that. That's definitely something we're, we're focusing on, on a lot back to, like we said, with Gramercy of, okay, here's, here's one, one style. Here it is just a slight difference with two, two mixed metal Yeah. Finishes. Here's a slight variation to this pattern detail. So just continuing to be familiar but different and just giving everybody that, that nuance of, yeah, it might be just a very small detail.

[00:26:33] Aaron Brueck: I'm changing, but in, in what that designer vision is. Or that homeowner, this is their forever home. That little detail matters. That's luxuries in the details is something we've just been saying a lot. And, and just making sure that we are paying attention to that. And Hey, it might not be a new style. That is a high level of detail, but the focus on the details, the crispness, the cleanness, that's what sets us apart.

[00:26:58] Aaron Brueck: That's the quality that [00:27:00] Severn instilled in us. And that's a difference maker and the people in luxury that are looking for that, they notice those things.

[00:27:06] Eric Goranson: Yeah, absolutely. I want to give a shout out to all your guys dealers out there, your independent, hardware, kitchen to bath companies out there that have been those Baldwin people for a long time.

[00:27:20] Eric Goranson: The faithful. And, and this is why, and, and I want to say this. I say this respectfully to all of the people out there, but you should, if you're going to be putting Baldwin in your home, you should run down to your local retailer, develop that, that that relationship with them. Because this is. A more complex product than just going down to your hardware store and grabbing something off the shelf.

[00:27:46] Eric Goranson: You need to have somebody that knows what they're doing to make sure you get it right the first time. Definitely. And I think going down and feeling it, seeing it, touching it, and understanding what it is and [00:28:00] the heritage behind it, I think is a really important step for people to go out and touch and feel

[00:28:04] Aaron Brueck: it.

[00:28:05] Aaron Brueck: You said it best, right? You can get extremely complex and down to the nitty gritty detail in this. Line, right? So there, we have a wide range of, of that level of expertise. And, and that's why, like you said, hats off to, to our, our customer base and partners out there all around the world that they're, they're, they're part of without, without that expertise, it's, it leaves people lost and it really is a service to help people find this is truly the look I'm, I've been searching.

[00:28:33] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And it's. If I was going to go jump online and order a mortise lock set, I'm not doing that. I'm going to mess that up. I'm going to go down and talk to my expert to make sure that I got all the pieces that I'm looking for, because there are so many options that you want to make sure everything's going to play well together and you get the right pieces and parts, just that's the flexibility of the product, but at the same point, you want to make sure you know what you're asking for to get it.

[00:28:59] Eric Goranson: You don't want to click a [00:29:00] box and say, Hey, and do that. That's where I think that relationship's important. He completely.

[00:29:04] Samantha Deacon: Transparent three years ago, my knowledge of a mortis, I could tell you what the outside of the door looks like, had no idea what the inside would even, did I even think I'd look inside what a mortis would be, but here we are.

[00:29:15] Samantha Deacon: And I love Baldwin and I love what I stand for or what the brand stands for. And I love the company we're working with, but if I three years ago tried to go online and buy anything for my doors, I would have been a lost puppy. I would have found something that looks pretty and I would have bought something that was definitely the wrong element.

[00:29:34] Samantha Deacon: That was. Necessary. It takes that level of pro to be able to walk you through to get you to that last step, which thankfully I've Aaron and a team that I feel like I'm a semi pro. I'm in the junior leagues, probably how I put it.

[00:29:46] Eric Goranson: Yeah,

[00:29:48] Samantha Deacon: there we go. I'm working my way up, but it does take that partnership with someone who can walk you through and ensure that you're getting the right element that will last a lifetime and look amazing on your door and function the way [00:30:00] that Baldwin does function, but it needs that knowledge set first.

[00:30:04] Samantha Deacon: And half the time I

[00:30:04] Eric Goranson: go down there and I'll talk to them and then all of a sudden they go, but have you tried this? And I'm like, well, that's even a better idea than I thought. You're just like, wow, okay, that's even cooler because these are the people that know that catalog inside and out and go, but this could be even cooler.

[00:30:19] Eric Goranson: And then all of a sudden your mind's blown and you've got that extra design element to the process.

[00:30:23] Aaron Brueck: And every new resource that we showcase at this show from, from lock designer to our sampling program, it takes that complexity and simplifies wherever

[00:30:32] Eric Goranson: we can. Oh, you guys have. And I want to say this and give you a credit to that is you have made it much easier to consume than ten years ago, let's say.

[00:30:43] Eric Goranson: I would open up the catalog back in the paper catalog days and my eyes would glaze over going, Do I need both those books? Parts of one of these parts, because there was the breakdown of the pieces and you go, yeah, I need

[00:30:54] Aaron Brueck: to phone a friend. Well, that's where QuickShip has just been

[00:30:58] Eric Goranson: such a, let's talk about that.[00:31:00]

[00:31:00] Eric Goranson: That's it. That was a

[00:31:00] Aaron Brueck: game changer. I think the product team would have been upset if we didn't get QuickShip in there. And then we did talk about the big B I think earlier in the discussion, all the product, I think we mentioned that all the products that makes up the mosaic of that B is within the QuickShip.

[00:31:15] Aaron Brueck: Okay. I didn't even know that. That's

[00:31:16] Samantha Deacon: cool. So the name of that big beast is called bold brisk. Trying to find something with me to stand for the fact that you can get all of those elements that really aren't a thing of beauty shipped to you in five business days or less, getting those elements and being able to have them, not only in a pre configured setup, it does make it a little bit easier to install it in a way that is going to be a simpler ordering process, but it also does come to you quicker.

[00:31:40] Samantha Deacon: If you are needing something in a rush. Yeah.

[00:31:44] Eric Goranson: That is the, the, the fact of our life, right? That their design process, so many people are used to going onto their online retailer that starts with a big A and something's delivered to you by the end of the day, that six day a week lead time is always gets people going, [00:32:00] which is a reality in many custom higher end pieces.

[00:32:03] Eric Goranson: But having that quick ship to be able to get it out there quickly, it's Especially when maybe somebody made a change, a design change, we're like, Hey, that's now going to be a locked door versus a, it's a passageway. And all of a sudden there's a way to react to that without

[00:32:18] Aaron Brueck: causing delays. It really makes my life as a salesperson and every, everybody that sells on this team and in the, in every customer as well, it really makes it easier as a salesperson to be able to say, look, we can do the most custom thing you want.

[00:32:32] Aaron Brueck: That's going to take 12 weeks, but if you don't have 12 weeks and you want something quick, yeah, we've done that. The path to yes, being able to, being able to have a solution. So we're not making our customers go from place to place or struggling to find what they need. We've got the options for simplicity, price, quality, finish level.

[00:32:52] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. We've got a wide range. So we have something for every solution. Yeah. And

[00:32:57] Eric Goranson: that's handy. Cause I tell you what, as a designer myself. [00:33:00] Sometimes getting my client to agree to what we're going to do. And I'm like, yeah, doors are getting delivered next week and you still haven't picked a, B or C here. What are we doing?

[00:33:10] Eric Goranson: And it's nice to be able to not be the bad guy and go, all right. 12 more weeks, guys, 12 more weeks. You started the clock, you know?

[00:33:17] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. That, that consistency for us as well. We talked about some of the just things going better and improving over the past few years, not only being able to say we've got all these different options and lead times, but being able to say, It's going to take this amount of time.

[00:33:31] Aaron Brueck: So you get it in 99 percent of the time that being true has made such a difference, such an amazing difference in the past few years as well.

[00:33:40] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And it's one of those things too, that, that I think we're seeing more of this. Now with people that, that post COVID thing, people are not right now going out, maybe building that brand new house, right?

[00:33:52] Eric Goranson: They're going, okay, I got a 3 percent interest rate right now. I'm not going to go buy another one for eight. And guess what? Time to upgrade [00:34:00] things in this house and make it how I want my next house to be. Cause it's going to be a little bit before we can go back and do that again. So. So

[00:34:06] Aaron Brueck: take some of that down payment that you're saving up and hey, go, go reface the cabinets, put some new hardware.

[00:34:11] Aaron Brueck: And it's, it's amazing what some of the, just those little, again, luxuries in the details, what a little change can do. You take a white panel door from a sat nickel doorknob to graphite nickel, just that change in contrast and just gives it a totally different look. So it, it, it doesn't take a lot of change sometimes to really make a refreshed impression.

[00:34:33] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. Might be one room might be the whole house, but Hey, that. Creativity

[00:34:37] Samantha Deacon: is endless. I also think cabinet hardware that we briefly touched on is that easy way to do that upgrade. And there's elements that are within our portfolio, such as we have a modern knob that has several center to centers in there that allows for it to fit depending on where your holes are located.

[00:34:54] Samantha Deacon: And then also we talked a little bit about backplates that truly is a styling tool, but I'm going to be honest, I replaced [00:35:00] cabinets in my bathroom and they were not matching the centers to centers were not working for me. So thank. Thankfully, a beautiful little backplate and it was a lazy person's fix for lack of a better term.

[00:35:11] Samantha Deacon: But it was a lot of

[00:35:12] Eric Goranson: sins. And especially when you had a handle, like a knob, for instance, in there and jewelry starts digging into the cabinets and that's that part that wore because that's where your hands are always going. You throw a beautiful backplate on, you're like, wow, those cabins look brand new again because I just buried the part that was worn.

[00:35:28] Aaron Brueck: It's a great example of function becoming the art, right, where, hey, I want to cover these holes that don't fit the size of the pool, but. Oh, now in the process, I've created this really cool, like, mixed metal, just new take. Yeah, so it's been fun. What's

[00:35:43] Eric Goranson: fun is maybe a couple years ago, you put in the matte black faucets, right?

[00:35:46] Eric Goranson: And then you're like, oh, I'm gonna get a matte black back plate to tie that together. But then let's go with a brushed metal on the front and give it that little twist. Black

[00:35:55] Aaron Brueck: mix is just, yeah, we're seeing, we're seeing that a lot. That's probably one of the, [00:36:00] definitely one of the top three combinations we're seeing in mixed metal is you've got the black and then just the satin brass or even the unlacquered brass just pops so nicely off.

[00:36:10] Aaron Brueck: And that's kind

[00:36:11] Eric Goranson: of the fun part too. Let's talk about that with the finishes of, cause you guys have some different finishes on stuff where you can have something that if you want it to patina and age a little bit, it will do that because that's part of the fun. Part of the plan with that. But then if you want that more lifetime style finished, and it's going to look that way five years from now, you have that option.

[00:36:30] Eric Goranson: We

[00:36:31] Samantha Deacon: are obviously fairly well known for our PVD finishes. We have some of the best PVD, I think, in the business. Gravite and Nickel being that we already touched on one of them, but allowing for something that can be outdoors. If you are in a coastal sort of situation for it to last a lifetime is something we're really proud of.

[00:36:47] Samantha Deacon: And then obviously we have hand relieved and living finishes that allow you to choose specifically. What you want your hardware style to look like, because there is a lot of people that do want that aged look of brass, that traditional [00:37:00] element of allowing it to really wear in the perfect spots, exactly where you want it to.

[00:37:05] Samantha Deacon: And there is a design style for that. And it's absolutely stunning.

[00:37:09] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. Like you said, all this new again, we're seeing so many people, it's been really cool trying to see taking very super contemporary styles and putting them in unlacquered brass is such an, it's. I'm telling you, it's been such a cool, again, it's just, I feel like it's getting more and more popular credit to our product team that we brought on lacquered brass into cabin hardware.

[00:37:32] Aaron Brueck: We did that relaunch that you mentioned earlier. And just that intersection of, again, old is new intersection of super, super tight contemporary lines and a very, uh, just real changing patina brass. That

[00:37:48] Eric Goranson: can add such life to a design because. Especially like in a kitchen situation where maybe that silverware drawer has a completely different wear pattern than maybe the one at the end of the kitchen.

[00:37:58] Eric Goranson: That's maybe the junk drawer that you [00:38:00] only get in every once in a while, because I think everybody's got a junk drawer, no matter what house you got. It's hiding someplace. Right. It's not a house until it's got a junk drawer. Exactly. That's where you put all those cables. You have no idea where they're supposed to go.

[00:38:12] Eric Goranson: Not going to get rid of it because. You never know. I need it for something. I just don't know it yet. Yeah. So, yeah. And that's the cool part of that is that then you've got this kind of natural patina within that and you're right with a contemporary that's got me thinking. I know it. I know it's really

[00:38:29] Samantha Deacon: fun right behind us where we're sitting right now in the booth, we have this element that we've been putting every single finish available in Baldwin with a few different samples from cabinet hardware to door hardware, and then some options from some brand partners that we work with and from Bank to build out your own mood boards.

[00:38:45] Samantha Deacon: And it's been really fascinating watching people play with combinations that are a little unexpected, just nothing that I've ever seen before. But sitting there and watching how designers are taking some of these elements and pulling them together. Once again, it's inspiring. It [00:39:00] brings about what are some of those new combinations potentially for quick ship, or what are some ways that we need to start looking at product colors that we haven't before.

[00:39:08] Samantha Deacon: Next year,

[00:39:08] Aaron Brueck: you need to put a camera up there,

[00:39:10] Eric Goranson: just record it and say, Hey guys, show us

[00:39:12] Aaron Brueck: your stocks. Get all the

[00:39:14] Eric Goranson: looks, you know, that would be great. Cause yeah, a designer can't not go touch

[00:39:19] Aaron Brueck: that. Oh, it's like, it's like designer cabinet, right? Exactly. They come over and oh, let's

[00:39:24] Eric Goranson: mix this up. Are those tile squares?

[00:39:25] Eric Goranson: Fabric. Yeah. Ooh,

[00:39:27] Samantha Deacon: what's this? They just keep rubbing different things. It's a very tactile experience. Sounds like, I'm glad you're spending time here. Let's all play with various samples together.

[00:39:36] Eric Goranson: Exactly. So what have we not talked on today, guys, as we're starting to run out of time? Oh boy. I think we've covered a

[00:39:42] Samantha Deacon: lot.

[00:39:42] Samantha Deacon: Scales adjusted. Is though we haven't talked about that. Oh,

[00:39:45] Eric Goranson: let's talk about the scales of justice. Let's talk about that. That's your baby sister.

[00:39:48] Samantha Deacon: Nothing like having a almost four foot, but then it's on a pedestal scale of justice so that you can truly compare what brass hardware feels like in comparison to your [00:40:00] stereotypical sourced hard.

[00:40:03] Samantha Deacon: Solutions that you might see from other hardware brands around us and feeling the difference in the weight between the two, there is no comparison. It's been sitting very tilted to one side pretty much the whole entire week.

[00:40:17] Eric Goranson: And that was the thing I shot that segment that aired a few weeks ago with the hardware on installing those knobs and the state collection, the stuff that you sent me, and again, you pull the handle out of school.

[00:40:28] Eric Goranson: Wow. And it's. It's amazing when you feel that, that you can feel the level of quality with it, because you're like, wow, that's four pounds of brass or whatever it is. So there's just a lot of, of quality in that because you just can't hide that.

[00:40:44] Aaron Brueck: Yeah. And that's why we do whatever we can to, to get hardware into whether it's the designer's hand, the customer's hand, the end user, whoever it is, material bank, Sam, I don't know if you want to talk about that for a minute, but a new, another cool new opportunity for us to get actual hardware out of the hands of designers.

[00:40:59] Aaron Brueck: For their [00:41:00] projects, working,

[00:41:00] Samantha Deacon: working with them. So our newest partnership with material bank should be launching next month, but it's an opportunity to anyone that's within the trades. You can sign up for free. It gives you access. You just have to put a little bit of business information in and get approved to be a part of this group, but it gives you access not only to hardware solutions, but we're talking wall coverings.

[00:41:20] Samantha Deacon: We're talking flooring. We're talking brick tile, everything in between that you can start sourcing for various projects you're working on. So our biggest thing is we want to see. People actually looking at the finishes and feeling and having a tactile experience with our hard work. Cause that's when you really start to fall in love.

[00:41:36] Samantha Deacon: You can look at it online all you want, but it's not until it's in your hands that it means anything to you. And so they'll be able to utilize samples to be able to hopefully continue to fall in love with their

[00:41:46] Eric Goranson: brand. Yeah, that's great. Smart that that is such a resource for the design community out there because so many times it's hard to get that because you're like, especially if you're not like in a major market, you're like, okay, they carry [00:42:00] it, but they don't have it.

[00:42:01] Eric Goranson: How am I going to deal with this? And that is such a great resource for that

[00:42:04] Aaron Brueck: community. Yeah, we don't want people driving a hundred miles just to put their hands on it. If we can, if we can be forward thinking and, and, and again, make these resources just that much more available, it's going to lead to more, more discovery and more, more projects coming to Baltimore.

[00:42:19] Aaron Brueck: Yeah, even

[00:42:19] Eric Goranson: people in metropolitan areas, it's, ah, it's, It's going to take me an hour and a half to go over and look at that sample. Can I get it in my hands here at my office?

[00:42:26] Aaron Brueck: Hey, time is, is one of the elements we are so laser focused on. Now we talked about the big a and, and you know, what, what the pandemic did.

[00:42:34] Aaron Brueck: And so we know time is precious. We don't want to waste anybody's time. You want to be efficient and we want you to have a good customer experience that isn't a lot of waiting. Yeah. You get what you need. We inform you and you leave satisfied. And we

[00:42:48] Samantha Deacon: know sometimes sitting with that end homeowner, whoever your client is.

[00:42:51] Samantha Deacon: And trying to persuade them in whatever direction you guys are thinking about for the vision of the home, like it takes a long time. And sometimes it is difficult [00:43:00] for these homeowners to want to go spend a full day. Cause when you step into a hardware store, you can be eye candy. Like you, your brain doesn't know where to look.

[00:43:07] Samantha Deacon: There's a lot of options and sometimes having too many options can get a little tricky. So you can help the designer, the builder, the architect really narrow in and get core decisions made before walking into a showroom and making that decision. I think it helps everyone along in the

[00:43:23] Eric Goranson: process. Yeah. That makes it easy button there.

[00:43:25] Eric Goranson: Cause my little secret designing as I would always give three or four options, but I would give them one easy no. So they could feel that victory of no. Yeah. I'd go, okay, here's four options. One of them was never going to work, but I put it

[00:43:37] Aaron Brueck: in there so they could get that

[00:43:38] Eric Goranson: none of the above. Yeah, exactly.

[00:43:40] Eric Goranson: I wanted to give that none of the above option where they could just go, Oh, and then they're like, it gives them a little bit of confidence and then they could work through the process there. So that was awesome. Oh, yeah, absolutely guys. I think we're running out of time. Anything else

[00:43:53] Samantha Deacon: we got? No, this has been fabulous.

[00:43:55] Samantha Deacon: Absolutely.

[00:43:56] Aaron Brueck: Just encourage everybody. Website is, is [00:44:00] updated. Walk designers coming, come find us. We were, we're here and we're ready to talk to him. Absolutely. Guys.

[00:44:05] Eric Goranson: Thanks for having me out today. This is always a great time. It's always the highlight of my show. Love working with you guys. It's always been an honor.

[00:44:12] Eric Goranson: Likewise. All right, guys. Thanks for coming out. Thank you. I'm Eric G. You've been listening to Around the House