Lowe Hardware is a familyoperation. Started by Bill

Lowe, in front with his dogMax, the company now

includes Lowe’s son, Elliot,and daughter, Emily.

Reprinted with permission of MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS 55

THE BUILDING’S nondescriptblue metal siding blends in withthat of other nearby warehouses

in Rockland’s industrial park. Take acloser look, though, at the distinctive L-shaped handle on the front door. Silver-toned with a mottled pattern on theround grip and delicate chasing at itspoint, the lever feels wonderful in thehand, and it looks elegant, too. The doormay have come off the shelf of the locallumber store, but not this latch. It turnseffortlessly and the door clicks open toreveal the place where the lever wasmade, the headquarters of Lowe Hard-ware, a small company that is rapidlymaking a name for itself in the high-endcustom hardware business.

Founder Bill Lowe of Owls Headstarted out making special metal fittingsfor yachts. Now Lowe Hardware hasexpanded into the home market and isbeing run by Bill’s son, Elliot, anddaughter, Emily. Doorknobs, pulls,hinges, cabinet handles, even fittings forfurniture, in finishes ranging from shinyor rough bronze to gold-plated brass ornickel, this hardware both holds a hometogether and allows access to its innerrecesses.

Descended from a family of boat-builders and yacht captains on Deer Isle,Bill Lowe trained as a machinist, thenwent to work on various boatbuildingprojects along the coast. Eventually herealized he liked designing metal fittingsmuch more than the rest of the con-struction process. So in 1982 he set upshop on his property in Owls Head andquickly became the go-to person for cus-tom boat hardware, such as cleats,blocks, and winch platforms.

Builders knew a good thing whenthey saw it and soon Lowe was makingdoorknobs, pulls and other special metalfittings for the interior of high-end boats

built at places like Hodgdon Yachts,Brooklin Boat Yard, and the HinckleyCompany.

“My dad is a simple guy with reallygood skills. He worked hard and was tal-ented,” said Elliot, who worked for hisfather during high school, then joinedthe business in 2003 after graduatingfrom the University of Maine with adegree in engineering.

“I took a liking to the interior work,”said Elliot, who was responsible forfocusing more of the company’s efforton residential projects.

Elliot, 35, runs the company with hissister Emily, who is 36. He designs pieces,programs the machines, and interactswith clients, while she keeps the growingpiles of paperwork in order.

Their father, who is semi-retired, still

Architectural SparkleLowe Hardware takes custom work to a new levelB Y P O L LY S A LTO N S TA L L | P H O TO G R A P H S B Y D O N N A DA LY

BUILDERS ALONGSHORE homes

Jewel-like bronze knobs in the foreground are fashioned from solid rods, shown here in the background. The Lowes cut hardware out of solid metal, rather than casting or forging it.

Bill Lowe shapes a piece of equipment on a manual lathe. He often designs custom toolsto facilitate different designs.

56 MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS | February / March 2015 | Issue 133

comes to work, always accompanied byhis mischievous Jack Russell terrier, Max.He specializes in making parts to sim-plify the manufacturing process.

On a recent day, Bill, now 70,hunched over a cluttered desk peeringthrough half glasses at a small carbonmetal triangle cutter that he was fittinginto a tool. When he was done, heattached the tool to a towering lathe andused it to mill down the edges of a silver-colored tube. The tube was not even afinished product; rather it was a part foranother machine.

“I come in and straighten things outand then I go home again,” Billexplained.

The Lowes’ first big residential job,making door hardware for a huge newhome on an island in Penobscot Bay,came about after the owner’s wife sawthe company’s products on a friend’syacht. The architect on that job intro-

duced the Lowes to colleagues in NewYork, and business took off.

In 2009, the Lowes moved from Bill’sbarn to a 6,000-square-foot warehousein Rockland’s industrial park. During2014, they were completing a 5,000-square-foot addition that will include alocal showroom. Their hardware alreadyis on display in architectural showroomsin both San Francisco and New YorkCity, where the bulk of their custom fit-tings, reproductions and new designs,end up in large penthouse apartmentsand houses.

“Luckily, there are clients out therewho appreciate what we do and how it isdone,” said Elliot, talking loudly over thesqueals of a grinder in the background.

Elliot is mysterious about his cus-tomers—“I can’t tell you that” is a fre-quent refrain. He alluded to a well-known company that has contracted forinternal fittings for its finished products

and to a European-based pharmaceuti-cal firm that has ordered hundreds oflaboratory desk fittings for buildings inEurope and the United States.

Lowe products remain standard inboats built by Hinckley Yachts in South-west Harbor, and most other large cus-tom boats built in Maine. Delta Marinein Seattle, Washington, also uses them.

The company makes its hardwareusing a mix of modern computer-con-trolled cutting machines and old-fash-ioned lathes. Stacks of thick rods of solidbronze are piled next to rows of plainrectangular plates on shelves in the openwarehouse. While some makers of cus-tom hardware cast their products, Loweuses cutting and grinding tools to fab-ricate its pieces from solid blocks ofmetal.

Elliot clearly delights in showing offthe machinery. He opened the clear plas-tic door to a big blue computer-con-trolled lathe to show me what it does. Onone side a clamp holds a gold-tonedpiece of metal; on the other skinny artic-ulated arms hold various drill bits andcutters. Shiny metal particles the size ofsawdust glint in the well below. Elliot canprogram this machine to grind, cut, oreven add patterns to metal.

“This is really cool; you have to seethis,” he said, walking over to anothercomputer-controlled machine, one thatis capable of switching tools mid-cut. Inless than two minutes we watched ittransform a solid rectangle of bronze byadding bevels around the edges andacross one end, then drilling small holesand adding threads for screws.

Across the aisle, yet another CNCmachine turned one piece of bronze intotwo sides of a door hinge, complete withscrew holes. This hinge likely will end upon a door hundreds of miles away, cre-ating an experience with roots in Maineand the boatbuilding world for itsowner.

Polly Saltonstall is Editor in Chief of this

magazine.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Lowe Hardware5 Gordon DriveRockland, ME 04841207-226-7405www.lowe-hardware.com

An employee watches as a computer-controlled cutting machine creates a door hinge.

✮

Polishing on special buffing wheels givespieces that extra shiny finish. A sandblasting

machine is used to get a matte finish and awire brush wheel is used for a brushed finish.