Metropolis: Specify Summer 2025 Products

Published in Metropolis’s Specify Summer 2025 issue.

Hardware

Often considered the jewelry of the built environment, hardware—be it a door lockset, a kitchen cabinet knob, or a curtain rod—serves a functional purpose while also adding a decorative touch that enhances a project’s aesthetic. Here, we highlight a few new hardware products that are both eye-catching and highly practical, exemplifying the perfect balance of form and function.

Keeler Brass: Ellis

The Empire Series from Keeler Brass bears artisanal touches—such as hammered and knurled detailing—that hint at the brand’s heritage as a small family foundry from the 1890s. Among the collections from this decorative hardware line, which was inspired by New York City localities, Ellis comprises eight pulls, a T knob, and a round knob constructed of solid brass with a reeded texture that’s accentuated by slightly darker recesses. keelerbrasscompany.com

Krownlab: Loki

At once both elegant and industrial-chic, this low-profile sliding barn door system features a streamlined design that conceals the wheels and fasteners of the system’s trolleys and two-part track. Loki is competitively priced and is compatible with wood, glass, metal, and other types of doors weighing up to 200 pounds. It is available in brushed stainless steel and black stainless steel finishes. krownlab.com

Emtek: Empowered 2 Touch

A smart, touchpad-based access-control system, EMPowered 2 Touch offers even greater convenience with its biometric fingerprint technology, which boasts 99 percent accuracy and unlocks doors in under half a second. It stores up to 20 programmed fingerprints and pairs with select keyed or key-free dead bolts or complete entry sets. The sleek, minimalist pad is available in seven finishes, including unlacquered brass, oil-rubbed bronze, polished chrome, and flat black. emtek.com

Glazing

From enhancing safety and security for both people and birds to controlling solar heat gain for occupant comfort and reducing energy consumption, glass coatings offer significant benefits yet rarely receive the recognition they deserve. Read on to discover some of these invisible workhorses that warrant a closer look for your next project.

Vitro: Solarban 72 Starphire

With a reputation for high solar-control performance, Solarban was an easy choice for the LEED Platinum Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The project’s designer, Payette, specified Solarban 72 Starphire, which maximizes daylighting—transmitting 67 percent of visible light—while minimizing solar heat gain with a coefficient of 0.28. vitroglazings.com

Guardian Glass: Guardian Bird1st UV

Across the U.S., more than a billion birds crash into glass each year—whether on houses, skyscrapers, or bus shelters. Fortunately, some glass manufacturers offer patterned solutions that significantly reduce the number of these collisions. Among them, Guardian Bird1st UV features a UV coating with a striped pattern that’s nearly undetectable to the human eye but visible to our avian friends, ensuring safety without compromising design. Guardian now offers the product in jumbo sizes of up to 130 by 204 inches. guardianglass.com

Sageglass: Realtone

Self-tinting dynamic glass is a cutting-edge technology, but it’s often accompanied by a blue hue that can diminish the visual appeal of interior spaces, building exteriors, and views of the outdoors. In response, SageGlass developed a game-changing solution: Its newly launched RealTone is currently the most neutral electrochromic glass on the market. Providing truer-to-life views and rendering interior colors more accurately, it delivers excellent glare control while seamlessly shifting between four tint states. sageglass.com