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Over the past few months, the ways we renovate our homes and keep them clean have shifted to prioritize health and safety—and so have the ways we enter them. Before the pandemic, you probably never thought twice about ringing a doorbell, pressing an apartment buzzer, or opening a door, but now you might be looking for ways to decrease the amount of contact you have with those surfaces. Behold: the touch tool, an invention that’s become the key fob addition of the moment.
Metal goods brand Craighill designed its own chic take on the new innovation, after receiving requests from customers interested in such a tool—before it was even familiar with its purpose. “We took note of the functional imperatives of pushing buttons and pulling door handles, and worked to develop a form that was more fluid and organic feeling than what we had seen, while still ensuring that it did what it was intended to,” explains brand director Zach Fried. The process happened quickly, over the course of about four weeks. The company landed on machined brass as the material for its beauty—though there is also some research that suggests copper and copper alloys (like brass) can have antimicrobial properties.
While a touch tool won’t solve all your problems (Craighill stresses that it should be used in conjunction with proper social distancing and mask wearing), it can reduce the amount of contact you have with high-traffic surfaces and, at the very least, offer some peace of mind. That—and it looks pretty cool on a set of keys.
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