Hands on door handles competition: “Twitty” now in production

Almost a year ago, designboom announced the winners of the ‘hands on door handles’ competition hosted in collaboration with colombo design.

among the four winning entries was japanese designer tomo kimura’s ‘twitts’ which was awarded top ratings in the ‘free-style’ category.
following the conclusion of the competition, the design was so well-received that colombo decided to take the handle into production.

now re-named ‘twitty’, the concept came to kimura while he was sitting in front of his computer looking out at the birds perched on his window sill.
the poetic motif of the design features a bird perched upon a branch, its tail formally standing in place as the door handle itself.
the lighthearted and functional design brings a new life to the usually emotionless state of a door handle.

due to the complex form of kimura’s design, the handle is produced using the ancient technique of casting molten metal
inside a damp clay sand mold through which fixed channels funnel the liquid inside. the device holds the design in two parts,
one above and the other below, the cast pieces fitting together like two halves of a shell. as the metal cools down and returns
to its normal temperature and solid state, it breaks the mold, releasing itself. the pieces are then polished and finished.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/20122/hands-on-door-handles-competition-twitty-now-in-production.html

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