Our preferred materials for switches, lights, and fittings
We work with traditional materials. Not just because they are more beautiful.
Ceramic materials such as porcelain and soapstone, early plastics such as bakelite, metals such as iron, copper, bronze, and brass, as well as wood and textiles are materials steeped in tradition. They all have compelling application-specific advantages—for example, in electrical engineering, i.e., in the field of switches and sockets, but also in fittings and luminaires. When this technical practicality is combined with tangible value, durability, and a special aesthetic, we are uncompromising and say: these are the materials we want, and no others.
Porcelain and ceramic materials
Porcelain is particularly popular in the field of aesthetically sensitive restoration. However, thanks to their simple beauty and superior technical properties, porcelain switches are also very popular in extremely modern living concepts. We use porcelain and other ceramic materials not only for our switch systems, but also for fittings and luminaires.
Porcelain is a silicate ceramic material based on kaolin, feldspar, and quartz. Depending on the production process and mixture of the raw materials, porcelain can be optimized for the desired purpose. Porcelain obtains its typical properties through a multi-stage sintering process, in which high temperatures reduce volume and porosity while increasing density and strength. Our porcelain switch systems are made entirely of porcelain and steatite, another traditional silicate ceramic material, both inside and out.
Porcelain also shows off our beautifully designed fittings and handles for windows and doors to their best advantage. Porcelain and ceramics are also used in some of our lights.
The advantages
- Ceramic materials have high insulating properties. The development of porcelain as a technical material made the use of electricity for technology and household purposes possible in the 19th century.
- Porcelain is resistant to corrosion and high temperatures, dimensionally stable, scratch and cut resistant, and acid resistant. The smooth, glossy material does not yellow or discolor even after many years.
- Steatite is resistant to aging, dimensionally stable, and resistant to even very high temperatures. These characteristics make it the ideal material for the internal components of our switches.
- Glass-smooth, shiny, robust, and resistant to discoloration, our porcelain switches last for many years and remain timelessly beautiful.
- Beneath the surface of the rotary switch lies a sophisticated technical interior – the ceramic switch mechanism, hidden from view, can be heard by the ears as the clicking sound typical of genuine rotary switches and can also be felt.
"Earthbound and unbreakable": Bakelite and Duroplast.
In the first half of the 20th century, the term Bakelite had become synonymous with plastics, and since the emergence of its thermoplastic descendants, the name has been used colloquially to distinguish the old, heavy Duroplasts (melamines, phenolic resins) from what is more or less disparagingly referred to as "plastic." However, contrary to what everyone assumes based on common usage, Bakelite is not a generic term, but a brand name, namely that of Bakelite AG in Iserlohn (which, since the local Rütgerwerke sold it to Borden Chemical in 2005, has enjoyed changing parent companies among American chemical companies and now belongs to Momentive Specialty Chemicals). In terms of material history, Bakelite stands at a crossroads: Initially, like its organic predecessors (celluloid, galalith), it was purely a substitute for raw materials such as amber and shellac, which were becoming scarce and expensive in the early days of mass production. But then, from around the 1920s onwards, the material broke free from its early industrial role as a stopgap. Something like a distinct Bakelite aesthetic emerged, which the images on this page vividly illustrate. (Some are taken from the exhibition catalog "Bakelite: A Material with a Future" by the Landesmuseum Koblenz and were created by Michael Jordan.) Read more
The advantages
- Their high resistance to mechanical stress, temperature stability, and insulating properties make Bakelite and other thermosets ideal materials for electrical engineering applications.
- Bakelite and other thermosets remain unchanged at temperatures up to around 300 °C and are significantly harder and more brittle than the thermoplastics commonly found today. Under pressure and tension, they tend to break rather than deform.
- Unlike the thermoplastic switches and sockets that are almost exclusively used today, switches made of Bakelite and white Duroplast do not yellow, but remain unchanged in color for years.
- The inner workings of our switch series made of Bakelite and white Duroplast are the same as those of the porcelain switch series made of steatite and are therefore durable, impact-resistant, and creepage-proof.
- The surface of the rotary switches conceals sophisticated technical inner workings – the ceramic switch mechanism, hidden from view, can be heard by the ears as the clicking sound typical of genuine rotary switches and can also be felt.
