23 March, 2021

Piet Boon x Formani, the collaboration

The collaboration between Dutch interior designer Piet Boon and premium architectural hardware specialist manufacturer Formani starts and ends with a series called ONE...

The ONE Collection, embodying the purest of design aesthetics, launched the Piet Boon/Formani collab in 2010. Then, after a series of hugely successful joint ventures over a decade, designer and manufacturer came full circle, reinventing the best-selling ONE collection in 2020.

Piet Boon and Formani:
a shared passion for detail

Studio Piet Boon is an internationally renowned design studio, recognised for its multi-disciplinary design services and its remarkable talent for balancing functionality, aesthetics and individuality in one of a kind design experiences.

Studio Piet Boon and FORMANI share a mutual passion for exquisite details and refinement. Both believe in the value of forging new partnerships with like-minded people and brands that challenge each other to take product design to the next level.

“STUDIO PIET BOON AND FORMANI SHARE A MUTUAL PASSION FOR EXQUISITE DETAILS AND REFINEMENT” – PIET BOON

Piet Boon believes that design is all about the details, and that door handles are the finishing touch. Once installed, he says, a door handle will be there for maybe 20, 30 or 50 years. And in 50 years it still has to be there, it still has to work and it still has to look good. “The door can be very simple, but the thing you touch every day, the handle, should be like a jewel, and Formani really understands that,” he said.

The aim with the Formani handles was to design something that wasn’t so eye-catching that it distracted from the design, but at the same time it shouldn’t pass unseen either. The handles became an integral part of Boon’s distinctive style aesthetic, “The designs are always different, but he handles are the signature,” he said.

Starting at ONE

The designer and the manufacturer started developing concepts together in 2009, launching the ONE Series for FORMANI in 2010. The collection provides a unified concept for door, window, and furniture fittings with an additional and unique series of bathroom accessories. ONE is still Formani’s best-selling collection today.

Simplicity is at the heart of the phenomenal success of this series, where the cylindrical shape is the central theme observed in every product in the collection. The vertically fitted T-shaped door handles enjoy international fame and have become an icon in the world of furniture fittings. They are the ultimate signature of FORMANI style. The ONE series is unique.

By combining model, size, and finish in exactly the right way it is at home in any interior, from classic to modern to industrial.

And them came TWO

With impeccable Dutch logic, Piet Boon named his next FORMANI hardware collaboration TWO.

Piet not only designed the TWO series of door fittings but also used it throughout the Studio Piet Boon head office building in the Netherlands.

This series has a great deal in common with the head office. The layout of the building was inspired by the customer journey and has two pathways: one for visitors to the studio and the other one for staff. Together, these pathways become one, just like the elaborate oak designs from the TWO series, carefully assembled piece by piece with the necessary handwork and precision to fit together seamlessly.

Natural stained oak handle TWO PBL22/50 by Piet Boon for Formani with privacy lock.

While the TWO series by Piet Boon exudes simplicity, it is, in fact, one of the most elaborate products in the FORMANI collection. The assembly of these fittings is completed with careful handwork that sees every piece of wood milled independently and fitted together with the stainless steel parts like the pieces of an intricate puzzle.

TWO by Piet Boon offers three different expressions of the same fundamental design. First there is the combination of stainless steel with natural oak; then there is the line made from stainless steel and black oak; and third is the 100% stainless steel line. All three finishes are found throughout the Piet Boon HQ building where open spaces with white and black doors animate endless combinations.

A new era of pure form: INC and ARC

2019 was a landmark in in the collaboration between Studio Piet Boon and FORMANI®. The partners celebrated their ten-year milestone with the introduction of two new hardware series that quickly identified themselves as the icons of the future: INC and ARC.

INC

Smooth curves and an excellent grip characterise the INC series. Starting out as a circular cylinder form, the INC shape was created by flattening the circle and tapering the end. This provides the handle with a smooth inclined form, after which the INC was named. The INC door handle won the Red Dot Design Award 2019 in the Product Design category. The winning door handle is part of the complete INC hardware series, consisting of door fittings, window fittings, furniture fittings and other accessories.

ARC

Following clean lines and geometric shapes, the 2019 FORMANI by Piet Boon hardware series ARC is defined by its no-nonsense appeal. The unique silhouette was created by dividing a cylinder exactly in half, which gives the ARC its characteristic flat side and a side characterised by an arch shape – after which the ARC is named.

Winner of a prestigious German Design Award in 2020, the series, consists of door fittings, window fittings, furniture fittings and other accessories, allowing a unified aesthetic throughout an interior. It is available in satin stainless steel and PVD gunmetal black.

And back to ONE, reinvented in PVD black and gold

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this iconic series, the ONE collection was given an update in 2020 with the addition of two PVD finishes – PVD Satin Black and PVD Satin Gold.

Hardwearing, weather resistant and perfect for high-touch areas, black PVD can, however, be challenging to get right. The growing demand for these black fittings kept Formani researchers busy for years, working hard develop the latest PVD coating techniques to perfect the quality of the black finish.

FORMANI’s latest innovation is the state-of-the-art PVD satin black finish. Normally a PVD coating gives a slightly glossy layer and does not reach the colour beyond an anthracite level (PVD gunmetal). However, Formani succeeded in developing a technique that allowed the creation of a unique, deep black colour that is tougher than titanium. This deep Satin Black still allows the original brushing of the stainless-steel base surface to be visible, thanks to an extremely thin but super-hard PVD coating. This is the first PVD coating with such an intense black colour and it is suitable for interior and exterior surfaces.

“This is the first PVD coating with such an intense black colour.”

The FORMANI ONE series by Piet Boon is now available in this latest finish, PVD satin black.

Hardware that is more than just a detail

And so, the collaboration between Piet Boon and Formani has come full circle, and yet reached a point of ground-breaking innovation with PVD Satin Black as well as PVD Gold handles and accessories.

Piet Boon and Formani are unified in their conviction that, although details are only a small part of the whole, they can make it or break it.

Door fittings are one of those pivotal details and play a leading role in the overall design. It is no doubt thanks to the collaborations with designers such as Piet Boon, that the FORMANI collections have established a reputation in the design world as being more than just a detail.

And, after all the innovations that have lead them to this moment, we are all looking forward to what is to come from this collaboration powerhouse.

“AT STUDIO PIET BOON WE BELIEVE THAT THERE IS GREAT BEAUTY IN SIMPLICITY. THE SIMPLEST DETAILS LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION. THEREFORE, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF DOOR FITTINGS” – PIET BOON

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