Aluminium shot-blasted, anodised, ennobled
FSB reinvigorates aluminium
In typically matter-of-fact manner, the Brakel firm uses the term “Blasted Aluminium Colour Anodised” to describe what it brought to the production stage following lengthy development and manufacturing tests: anodised colours in the form of satin matt aluminium finishes blasted with fine shot whose inimitable sheen and pleasant haptic quality lend them an allure of a kind never before seen.
FSB has enhanced its processing of aluminium by adopting a mix of manual and industrial methods that allows each of its many door handle designs to be “worked” out of the material to optimum effect. The anodised colours supplied by FSB take as their point of reference the classic metallic “colours” with which the builders’ hardware sector had endeavoured since the 1950s to emulate typical real hardware metals by means of colour-anodised aluminium finishes. What used to be an attractively priced alternative for private builders’ clients unable to afford (or unwilling to buy) door fittings in solid brass or bronze has, however, since established itself as a design option in its own right for architecture and select interior finishing schemes.
FSB is revitalising “its” aluminium material with the aid of anodised colors based on refined matt-velvet aluminium finishes whose inimitable sheen and pleasant haptic quality lend them an allure of a kind never before seen. A conscious attempt to relate to the actual metal is made – “colour” in the sense of “colourful” is out. This is regardless of whether the host surface is highlighted by means of a metallic colour/finish or whether it is to play a more downbeat role – notably in the case of anodised or powder-coated window and facade profiles – as part of a scheme of coordinated shades.
In technical and functional terms, blasting an aluminium surface causes it to be compacted much in the same way as occurs during forging, as a result of which blasted anodised aluminium finishes are somewhat more resistant to knocks and scratches than traditionally worked and anodised aluminium.