Astor team can “diagnose” identify and work to match metal finishes from the past or from overseas. Simply send us an image, weblink or description to get started. We may be familiar with the particular VOLA finish or we can reverse engineer to achieve a very similar if not exact finish to match. We have been matching finishes for 50+ years which has lead to our finishes range expanding to more than 4000 variations and counting.
Simple steps to specifying a finish to match;
- Let us know you are trying to match something and draw on our expertise (please don’t draw on requesting every single sample you think might be close, we are here to help if we can)
- Email us a description of the finish (eg glossy, mirror, brushed, matt, brushed, light, dark, rusty colour etc)
- Email a photo of the finish – we recommend taking photos insitu, front on and also close up on 45 degree angle (this will inform us of the gloss level and any texture in the base metal)
- Email is a weblink of a product supplier and their finish
- Post us a physical sample, we will take photos of similar finishes on hand or make up custom samples to suit and send back.
- Bring in the sample with the metal to be finished, we will return your sample at completion of first prototype or the complete project order.
We have had great success with matching however there are some which we cannot achieve no matter how hard we try. If the metal finish is made of brass or brass-plating – we will be able to match it with brass plating. If the metal is a stainless colour, PVD or not the real metal (brass or copper for example) – we cannot make brass and or copper be unnatural colors. We can polish and patina but we cannot make copper change to a pinker shade for example.
Brushed Copper PVD we have found to never actually be the colour of copper proper. Brodware ROMA & STATUE are two other PVD finishes which are stainless colours and cannot be matched with real copper or real brass.
We can advise approximate matching to manage expectations eg 80% – 98% and may recommend complimentary finishes instead; perhaps a darker patina or a different top coat. “Close but no cigar” is often not good enough for our clients & projects which we completely understand.
While working on a custom finish to match, it is ideal to understand the intended application so we can help with capacities, design detailing of the metal and base metal advice for your fabricators/ suppliers.