On living with patina

The first email I get from a customer who bought a brass pepper mill or a pair of hooks usually says something like: "It's gone darker. Is that supposed to happen?"

Yes. That's what brass does.

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Copper oxidises in contact with oxygen, water vapour, and the natural oils on your hands. The oxidation forms a thin, mostly invisible layer that we call patina. The patina darkens the metal slightly and protects what's underneath. It's a feature, not a defect.

If you want it shiny, you can Brasso it. Most people do, the first six months. Most people stop doing it around month seven, after they realise the warm darker brass looks better.

Our pepper mills, brass hooks, lamp bases, sconces and pendants all develop the patina at the same rate. After a year they look about 20% darker than the day you bought them. After five years they look about 30% darker. Past 10 years the rate of change slows to almost nothing — the metal has reached its natural equilibrium.

If you genuinely don't want patina, don't buy brass. Buy chrome or stainless. Both are designed to stay the way they leave the factory.

But brass that's been allowed to do its thing is, to my eye, more beautiful than the day-one version.

Mateo