Materials · Holdon Paris
Character begins
with material
Bronze, copper, brass, aluminum, lacquer, bioresin… Each one tells a different story, a different relationship to time, to light, to the hand that touches it.
The founding choice
Choosing a material means choosing a character
A handle is not a detail. It is the most touched object in a home, the only one that meets your hand every single day. Material sets the tone of that encounter: the coolness of metal, the glide of a lacquer, the grain of a bioresin. It also decides how the object will age: the patina of bronze, the oxidation of copper, the stability of anodized aluminum.
Every material tells a different story. Bronze speaks of classicism and a living patina, aluminum leans toward light and modernity, lacquer opens the door to bold color.
Holdon Paris works across many material families. None is better than another: each opens its own territory of use and aesthetics. The kitchen calls for metals that withstand humidity, repeated contact, and splashes. The bedroom, the office, the closet, on the other hand, make room for colored resins, saturated lacquers, delicate patinas. Before you settle on a pattern or a finish, it is the material that sets the general character of your handle. Fine metals, technical resins, colored lacquers: each has its strengths, its limits, and the settings where it shines.
This page will help you understand which material for which project, with no hierarchy and no dogma.
The material is a handle’s first aesthetic decision, made even before shape and finish. Once the material is set, everything else, color, finish, size, falls into place around it.
The core of the catalog
Each material, an intention
Each material opens its own dedicated page: its character, care and use guidelines, and the full list of finishes it comes in. Click on the material that intrigues you most, and you’ll find everything you need to decide with confidence.
Material
Bronze, a copper alloy with timeless charm, brings a noble, warm, and patinated touch to any interior. Our bronze handles turn a simple front into a signature detail.
Material
Copper brings an instantly unique visual warmth: a glowing, living metal with orange highlights and a patina that grows more beautiful with time. Our copper cabinet handles and knobs give character to a kitchen, dresser, or closet.
Material
Brass is the perfect ally if you’re after a finish that’s warm, luminous, and unmistakably elegant. With its golden glow (somewhere between discreet gold and honey), it brings an instant premium touch to your furniture.
Material
Aluminum (or alu) is loved for its modern, bright, minimalist look. Our aluminum cabinet handles and aluminum knobs bring a clean, contemporary finish to a kitchen, closet, or dresser.
Material
Sourced from renewable plant based resources, bioresin delivers a pearly, satin finish with a subtle iridescent shift in the light. Light and delicate, it suits living rooms, bedrooms, and closets. Not recommended for kitchen handles or humid environments.
Two families, one dialogue
Metals and Resins, two complementary territories
Our offer is divided between two main families. They are not opposed: they complement each other. Understanding this split is the first step in guiding your choice, even before getting into the details of the finishes.
The metals
Bronze, copper, brass, aluminum, iron. They bring what resin cannot: weight in the hand, a physical presence, a surface that patinas and carries the story of time passing. These are the materials for kitchens, bathrooms, spaces that call for durability.
- Withstand humidity, splashes, and moderate impact
- Develop over time (patina, controlled oxidation)
- A restrained palette: color comes from the metal itself
- Made in Paris from solid metal powder, cold-cast by hand
The resins
High-density lacquer, bioresin. They open up territory that metal simply can’t reach: color. Where metal keeps to its own palette (from brown to gold), resin offers the full spectrum, from immaculate white to deep blues, through reds, purples, and greens.
- Satin or velvety touch, warmer than metal
- Saturated color that stays true over time
- Not recommended: damp rooms or prolonged exposure to heat
The good instinct
Which material for which piece?
Before the taste, there is the constraint. Here is how we guide our clients based on the room, a reference point, not a rule. All arbitrations remain possible once the trade-offs are accepted.
Kitchen · Bathroom
Privileging metals
Humidity, splashes, repeated contact: bronze, copper, brass hold up well. Aluminum too, with regular care. Resins are best avoided here, heat and steam make them fragile.
Chamber · Dressing Room · Home Office
The terrain of expression
No constraints on strength: colored lacquer, iridescent bioresin, patinated metals. This is the place to dare a bold color or a baroque finish.
Living room · Entryway · Dining room
All choices are open
Faced with more visual presence than everyday wear, the choice becomes aesthetic: the quiet restraint of a matte anthracite, or the confidence of a polished copper. Everything is possible, which is also what makes the choice difficult.
Comparison chart
At a glance
The atelier’s material characters and how well they hold up in humid spaces. To go further, open the dedicated guide for each material.
| Material | Price | Impacts | Moisture | Heat | Care | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Copper | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Brass | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Aluminum | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Iron | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Marble | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Lacquer | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
| Bioresin | €️€️€️€️€️ | 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨 | 💧💧💧💧💧 | ☀☀☀☀☀ | 🧽🧽🧽🧽🧽 | ⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ |
Usage indications by material
Aluminum
Recommended use
Kitchen, bathroom, living space, heavy door, heavy-duty drawer
Not recommended
Outdoor use
Aluminum handles indoor humidity very well. For exposed outdoor use, we recommend contacting us to find the best solution.
Bioresin
Recommended use
Living space
Not recommended for
Kitchen, bathroom, outdoor use, heavy doors, heavy-load drawers
Designed for decorative spaces: bedroom, closet, living room, dresser. Its lightness and pearly sheen make it an exceptional, yet fragile, piece, best installed where it will be seen and appreciated.
Brass
Recommended use
Kitchen, bathroom, living space, heavy doors, heavy-load drawers
Not recommended for
Outdoor use
Brass thrives indoors, even in humid rooms. Outdoors, constant exposure to the elements gradually dulls the finish’s shine.
Bronze
Recommended use
Kitchen, bathroom, living space, heavy door, heavy-duty drawer
Not recommended for
Outdoor use
Our bronze handles are designed for indoor use. When exposed outdoors to the elements, we cannot guarantee the finish will hold up over time.
Copper
Recommended use
Kitchen, bathroom, living space, heavy door, heavy-load drawer
Not recommended
Outdoor use
Copper is made for the indoors, where it can evolve at its own pace, under your gaze. Outdoors, that evolution slips beyond any control.
The time long
How our materials age
A handle is not a static object. It is touched several times a day, exposed to light, to dust, sometimes to changes in humidity. This life of the object is written into the material we choose. At Holdon, we don’t try to freeze materials in a neutral state, we want them to live.
The metals that patina
Bronze and copper are the two most alive materials in the catalog. Bronze darkens and picks up green highlights in the least handled areas. Copper evolves faster: the patina is visible within a few months, and it’s reversible with a mild cleaner. Brass is more discreet, its patina golden and slow.
The metals that endure
Aluminum that has been anodized keeps its original color. Iron receives a protective layer that stabilizes it. These materials are the best choice if you’re looking for a color that stays true over time.
The atelier’s finishes
High-density lacquer and bioresin are stable: no patina, no color shift over time. Bioresins, however, can scratch more easily than metal: best suited to dry areas, and clean with a soft sponge only.
Continue exploring
Do you prefer exploring in a different way?
Three complementary entries to find the right handle.
By finition
The finish is the surface grain: brushed, polished, satin, matte, patinated. The same material yields several finishes, each with its own light.
By color
Eleven color ranges, from purest white to deep black, along with reds, greens, blues, and golds. For furniture that means to make a statement.
By forme
The atelier is doing the design’s talking here, not marketing copy needing padding.
The geometry of our cabinet handles and knobs lets you draw the line of the furniture they dress. Round, square, diamond, or sculptural…
Frequently asked questions
The materials of our handles
Product and Material
Choosing a finish within a material
How to choose a finish within a given material?
Each material carries several finishes, each with its own grain and tone. Open the material page you’re interested in: you’ll find all its finishes there, along with the finished handles that use them, so you can compare before choosing. The same material can look very different from one finish to the next, from the softest matte to the most vivid sheen. For the general logic, see the finishes page.
Difference between material and finish
What Is the Difference Between Material and Finish?
Material is the substance the handle is made of: bronze, copper, brass, aluminum, or bioresin. Finish is the surface treatment that follows, setting the grain, matte, satin, brushed, as well as the tone, patina, lacquer, or pigment. The same material can give rise to several finishes, none of which share the same light or the same touch. You choose the material first, then the finish that dresses it. See the finishes page for details.
Maintenance
Endurance and Aging of the Material
How do your materials hold up over time?
It depends mostly on the finish you choose, not just the material. A patinated finish, like Antique Bronze or Antique Copper, stays alive and evolves gently over time, that’s intentional. A matte, glossy, or color finish is stabilized and won’t shift. The material sets the starting point, the finish decides how it behaves over time. Open a finish’s page for its precise evolution.
Delivery, Customs, Payment, and Support
How Long Will It Take to Receive My Handles?
Each handle is made to order in our Paris atelier. Allow an average of 5 to 10 business days for production, plus the carrier's delivery time, which varies by address. You'll receive an email with the tracking number as soon as the shipping label is issued, generally between the 5th and 10th business day after your order.
Are Your Payment Methods Secure? What Payment Options Do You Offer?
We accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) via Stripe, as well as PayPal. Transactions run through these two international references in online payment: Holdon Paris never sees and never stores your card number, all sensitive data is transmitted encrypted to the platform. The site runs entirely on HTTPS. For large professional orders, bank transfer with a deposit is possible (see architects and professionals).
Can I Return My Order if I Don't Like It?
Yes. French law gives you 14 days from receipt to exercise your right of withdrawal, with no need to justify it. The handles must be returned in their original condition, uninstalled, and return shipping is at your expense unless the error is ours: the refund is issued within 14 days of receipt at our workshop. To start a return, write to us via contact Holdon Paris: we'll send you the address and the process. Custom and personalized pieces are not eligible for the right of withdrawal, since they are made specifically for you.
Selection tool for handles
A quick tool that asks a few questions to help you quickly find the handles you need and that match your taste.