Snøhetta launches Intro with renowned Italian handle producer, Olivari
Where it begins
During Milan Design Week 2026, Snøhetta and Olivari launches Intro – a new collection of handles designed by Snøhetta's product design team. The collaboration merges 110 years of Italian legacy and craftsmanship with a strategic design approach that places precision and detail at its core.
For designers, the door handle is more than just hardware. It is one of architecture’s most human interfaces – a tactile introduction to a space and a gesture repeated daily, often unconsciously. That combination matters: high frequency, direct contact, and universal use. It needs to strike a delicate balance: it should be pleasant to the touch and carefully considered, while remaining unnoticed and almost invisible.
When something is experienced often, even the smallest decisions in proportion, tactility, and control shape how a place is perceived and remembered.
“Product design is about the relationship between people and space. When something is touched every day, it has to feel honest, clear in the hand, calm in the room,” says Director of Snøhetta Product Design, Marius Myking.
Grip, turn, release
The design was born out of the movement and sequence of use: approach, grip, turn, release. Each movement was studied as part of a small ritual embedded in everyday life. The ambition was not to introduce another expressive object into a room, but to refine a familiar gesture – to make it feel precise, balanced, and intuitively right.
The turning action is engineered to feel confident and controlled with enough resistance to make an impression, while the form is shaped to sit naturally within the hand.
A handle operates in millimeters. Edge conditions, surface transitions, weight distribution, and tolerances are not secondary details - they are the design itself. A door handle is more than a functional object; it is a symbol of transition.
“The handle turns intention into action, allowing us to cross thresholds; from inside to outside, private to public, one moment to the next. In this way, it becomes a small ritual, a marker of passage. Its form, material, and touch shape the experience, defining the act of entering or leaving spaces,” says Myking.
Introduction
The door handle is one of the few guaranteed physical interactions one has with architecture. It offers a moment to quite literally shake hands with a building – a formal introduction to its atmosphere and intentions. It gently leads you into the next room and marks your departure from the one you leave behind.
A firm handshake and a proper introduction shape a lasting first impression. It is a familiar principle, yet one that is often overlooked. The handle serves the same role in architecture. It may be small in scale, and often secondary to larger architectural moves, but has the potential to define how a space is first encountered – and remembered.
The Intro collection also includes a window handle, so the handles on both doors and windows match and create a unified look in any space. With this addition, Intro becomes a natural part of your space, making every entrance feel intentional and thoughtfully designed.
“Working with Snøhetta was a natural and seamless process: simple, fast, and precise. Their ability to truly listen and transform dialogue into a product was crucial for this project. The result is a handle born from shared thinking, expressing a Nordic functional minimalism that adapts to every space without ever dominating it,” says Antonio Olivari, President of Olivari.
Materials
Intro will be produced exclusivelt in brass with a selection of galvanic finishes (bright and satin chrome), PVD finishes (bright and satin), and power-coated finishes offered by Olivari, developed to complement a wide range of architectural environments. From refined, metallic finishes to warmer tonal variations, each finish enhances tactility, durability, and longevity. The palette reflects the collection’s central idea: honesty in touch and calmness in presence.
Production
For more than a century, Olivari has refined the art of handle production, combining advanced technology with deep-rooted craftsmanship. All handles are still produced in-house at Olivari’s factory in Borgomanero, Italy – as they have been since 1911 – where precision engineering and rigorous quality control ensure consistency in weight, balance, and movement.
Manufacturing operates at a level where fractions of a millimeter matter. Hot forging, machining, and finishing are carefully controlled to achieve seamless transitions and a refined tactile experience. Hot forging helps achieve greater precision and prevents common brass defects, such as air bubbles in the molten metal. Surface treatments are developed not only for visual character but also for resilience, ensuring that the handle maintains its performance and expression over time.
With Intro, Snøhetta and Olivari unite heritage and forward-looking design thinking – creating a collection defined not by excess, but by precision, clarity, and the quiet importance of the everyday gesture.
Photo gallery
Photos by: Olivari
About Olivari
Since 1911, Olivari has been manufacturing door handles in Italy, at its own factories, where the entire production process takes place. Research and technological innovation, the continuous dialogue between tradition and modernity, and the collaboration with the most renowned architects and designers worldwide make Olivari a symbol of excellence, a benchmark for elegance and product quality.