Furniture · Expertise
Mirrors & Frames
Metal that holds a reflection.
A mirror frame is a small piece of metalwork that has to be perfect, because the thing it holds shows every flaw twice.
A framed mirror is unforgiving in a way most metalwork is not. The frame sits directly against a surface that reflects it, so a wave in a brass edge, a mitre that does not quite close, a brush grain that changes direction at the corner — each appears once in the metal and again in the glass beside it.
The shapes have moved a long way from the rectangle. Arched panels for a bathroom wall, a run of pill-shaped mirrors, organic outlines, ovals with a halo of light behind them: the frame is formed to the shape, and the back is engineered so the mirror can be hung, levelled and, if it is ever broken, replaced without cutting the frame.
Backlighting is its own discipline. The light has to be even along the whole edge, the driver has to be reachable, and the heat it makes has to have somewhere to go — behind a mirror in a bathroom, where it is also damp. A backlit frame is a small electrical enclosure that happens to be beautiful.
Above a vanity the frame is in the splash zone. Brass and bronze there are chosen with a finish that welcomes water spots rather than fighting them; stainless steel is chosen in a grain that hides them.
The corner is the whole job
Everything a mirror frame can get wrong shows at the corner. A mitre that opens by half a millimetre, a grain that runs the wrong way on one leg, a weld dressed slightly proud: the glass shows it, at double size, from every angle in the room. So the corner is made first and the sample is judged there, and a shape without corners — an arch, an oval — is not the easy option it looks, because the curve has to be formed from one continuous piece or the join has to disappear entirely.
For a backlit frame, decide early where the driver lives and how it is reached. A frame that has to come off the wall to change a component will not be maintained, and a mirror that stops lighting up becomes a mirror with a dark rim.
Where it is used
- Framed vanity and dressing mirrors
- Arched, oval, pill and organic-outline mirrors
- Backlit and halo-lit mirror frames
- Mirror clusters and panelled mirror walls
- Full-height and leaning floor mirrors
- Frames and surrounds for artwork and panels
Photographs
Mirrors we have made
From the workshop and from finished interiors. Click a picture to see it larger.
Product catalogue
Mirrors: what we make
Questions & answers
Questions about mirrors
Can a metal mirror frame be backlit?
Yes, and it is more than a strip of light. The light has to be even along the whole edge, the driver has to be somewhere it can be reached, and the heat has to go somewhere — behind a mirror in a bathroom, where it is also damp. A backlit frame is a small electrical enclosure that happens to be beautiful, and it is designed as one.
Why is the corner of a mirror frame the hardest part?
Because the glass shows it twice. A mitre that opens by a fraction, a grain that runs the wrong way on one leg, a weld dressed slightly proud — each appears in the metal and again in the reflection beside it, from every angle in the room. The corner is made first and the sample is judged there. Curved frames avoid the corner and replace it with a join that has to vanish entirely.
More furniture work
Often specified together
Start a project
Have something extraordinary in mind?
Send a drawing, a sketch, or a photograph of something close to it. We will tell you what is buildable, what it costs and how long it takes.