Small Ways | Doors & Knobs
Simple. Reachable. Doable. Small ways. They pack enough punch to change your world, or your day. Or maybe, simply and gloriously, they’ll change your moment. Small Ways is a series about small objects, small gestures, small touches. Small ways for living well.
The cool touch of a porcelain knob in the palm of your hand, the comforting weight of a solid wood door as you swing it closed, the quiet click of the latch bolt as it pops into place.
How is it that such things as a swinging panel and a mechanical assembly can define retreat, refuge, and protection, and describe welcome, intrigue, and connection? The privacy of a door closed; the beckoning of a door ajar. Both.
And just how is it that what the swinging panel and mechanical assembly are made of can so remarkably frame these experiences? Wood, metal, and glass, materials that come from the earth, bearing strength, resonance, and truth, made into things we use everyday: a door, its hinges, and its knob. Maybe even more than their natural beauty, it’s the strength, resonance, and truth about them that draws us. They aren’t an attempt to look like the real thing; they are the real thing.
Last fall, we replaced our interior hollow-core doors and falling-apart builder-grade knobs with these, in a simple shaker style, made of solid poplar, from a small company in Thompson Falls, Montana. The new knobs are black porcelain (a special request item), set in unlacquered brass that will age over time. A profound exchange of the artificial for the authentic.
I must say, they’ve been a game changer, an experience changer. And then their quiet beauty just tops it all off. I’ve decided I’ll not try to figure out why these things matter, but simply believe that they do.
