To understand Rocky Mountain Hardware, first throw away everything you know about cabinet hardware companies. Almost none of that will apply here. We'll touch here on just a few of the many ways that Rocky Mountain stands out from the crowd both as a company and in terms of their exceptional bronze hardware.
The Nickum family, the founders and still current owners of Rocky Mountain, didn't originally intend to build an architectural hardware manufacturing company. To the contrary, they started out as hardware resellers, operating a high-end showroom that catered to architects, designers, and builders of custom homes, much as The Knobs Company does today.
However, when customers kept requesting products that simply didn't exist, they decided to venture into manufacturing. They saw the demand for products with character, where each one had that one of a kind feel, yet all of the pieces in the home would complement one another. Initially, they made just one lever and one plate. Yet, when a customer asked if they could do a doorstop, the Nickum's happily agreed. Then when customers asked for cabinet hardware, again the Nickum's said yes.
This process of letting the customer's demands lead pushed Rocky Mountain from one product line to another. Next came bathroom hardware, door hardware, plumbing, then lighting. Today, they offer a full line of architectural hardware, unique in both look and quality.
Rocky Mountain pieces are hand cast to order, made out of art-grade bronze, a material that is both strong and beautiful, but that rarely gets used in today's cabinet hardware market due to its cost. Bronze casting is an art that goes back thousands of years, and many of the techniques used many generations ago are still employed by Rocky Mountain today.
Incredibly, each product goes through a process involving 20 or more steps, and will be worked upon by over 30 individuals before shipping out to the customer. Top Artists, including Lenny Kravitz, Roger Thomas, and Ted Boerner, design and hand sculpt each design, creating a pattern board that can be used to produce nearly identical finished products. Sand is tightly compacted into these boards to create the cast. The bronze then gets heated to 2200 degrees and is hand poured into the cast. For the more intricate designs, wax casts are also utilized, a process that demands tremendous patience and exactitude.
The finish, both the patina and the polish, are applied by hand. These are living finishes, growing richer and deeper over time as it responds to its environment. This means that your hardware will look different 5 years down the road than it does at the time of purchase, and even two knobs made together may vary slightly from one another. This, along with the variations that come from the sand casting process, make every piece of Rocky Mountain Hardware unique and truly one of a kind.
Though the finish may change, the hardware will not, as it is guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Rocky Mountain guarantees that your products will contain at least 90% post-consumer recycled bronze. This is metal that has already been used at least once in the past, and would be otherwise bound for the landfill.
All sand used in casting is reused, resulting in zero waste. They even recycle the bronze chips and grinding dust, leaving no byproduct from the manufacturing process.
Rocky Mountain stands by all of their products, viewing each one as a one-of-a-kind piece of art. They place such a value on how their hardware is represented, that they do not even allow retailers to display pricing a penny less than full retail. This is why, unlike almost every other product we sell, you will see no discount listed on any Rocky Mountain product. This policy does not however stop us from giving Trade Professional discounts, price matches, or engaging in negotiations with customers over chat, phone or email. We're committed to being your source for all of your Rocky Mountain Hardware needs, so give us a call and let us know how we can make your project extraordinary.
