Brass has been called a trend so many times that the word has stopped meaning anything. It appeared on every "materials to watch" list in 2018. It appeared again in 2021. And again in 2024. At some point, a material that keeps returning stops being a trend and starts being something else: a default.
The more interesting question isn't why brass is popular right now. It's why it keeps coming back — and whether this time it's actually here to stay.
The Short Version of a Long History
Brass has been used in architectural hardware for centuries. Door handles, cabinet pulls, light fixtures, plumbing fittings — brass was the material of choice for anything that needed to be durable, workable, and visually warm. It fell out of fashion in the late 20th century, displaced first by chrome, then by brushed nickel, then by the brief reign of oil-rubbed bronze.
What each of those materials had in common was a kind of visual neutrality. Chrome reads as modern and cool. Brushed nickel reads as inoffensive. Oil-rubbed bronze reads as traditional without committing to anything. They were safe choices precisely because they didn't say much.
Brass says something. That's why it left, and it's why it came back.
What Changed
The return of brass tracks closely with a broader shift in how people think about interiors. The all-white, all-neutral, everything-invisible aesthetic that dominated the 2010s gave way to something more considered — spaces with material warmth, intentional imperfection, and a longer design horizon.
In that context, brass makes sense. It's warm where chrome is cold. It develops a patina where nickel stays static. It connects a space visually to something older and more permanent than the current moment.
The version of brass that came back isn't the high-polish, lacquered brass of the 1980s — that association kept designers away for years. What returned was unlacquered brass, aged brass, and satin brass: finishes that absorb light rather than reflect it, that look like they belong in a space rather than on top of it.
Why It's Not Going Away This Time
Trends come and go based on novelty. Brass isn't novel — it's familiar in a way that takes on different meaning depending on what surrounds it. In a maximalist space it reads as opulent. In a minimal space it reads as the single warm note. In an older home it reads as appropriate. In a new build it reads as deliberate.
That kind of flexibility is rare. Most finish trends are context-dependent — they work in one register and fight against everything else. Brass works across registers, which is why designers who adopted it aren't abandoning it when the next material cycle arrives.
There's also a practical dimension. Unlacquered and aged brass develop a patina over time that most people find more appealing than the original finish, not less. A light switch in aged brass looks better after two years of use than it did on the day it was installed. That's the opposite of most hardware finishes, which show wear as degradation rather than character.
The Specification Question
Not all brass is the same, and the differences matter more than most people expect.
Lacquered brass maintains a consistent appearance indefinitely but never develops patina. It will look exactly the same in ten years as it does today — which is either a feature or a limitation depending on what you're after.
Unlacquered brass develops a living finish. It darkens in areas of contact, lightens where it's cleaned, and gradually builds the kind of depth that makes old hardware look expensive. It requires occasional maintenance — a light polish if you want to restore the original tone, or simply leaving it alone if you prefer where it's going. How to choose between finishes.
Aged and antique brass finishes replicate the look of patinated unlacquered brass from the start, without the waiting. They're consistent, lower-maintenance, and work well for anyone who wants the visual warmth of developed brass without the variable timeline.
Satin brass sits between lacquered and unlacquered — a muted, matte version of the finish that reads as contemporary without losing the warmth that makes brass worth specifying in the first place.
The Detail That Ties It Together
The reason brass hardware matters at the switch plate level is the same reason it matters at the cabinet pull level or the faucet level: finish consistency is what makes a space feel resolved. A room where the light fixtures are aged brass and the switch plates are white plastic hasn't finished the thought.
Specifying brass through to the switches and outlets is a small decision with an outsized effect. It closes a loop that most renovations leave open.
Shop aged brass hardware Shop all hardware Finish Consistency: Why Your Hardware Should Speak the Same Language How to Choose the Right Switch Finish for Your Interior The Case for Treating Your Switch Plates as Architecture