A fresh crop of hardware companies has emerged in recent years with a simple question: can humble cabinet pulls and knobs be a new medium for bold aesthetic expression? The challenge: not to let form overpower function; wild, oversized shapes must not impede actual daily use. Ellis Works, recently founded by Alex Bellos, the former president of retail brand West Elm and CEO of lighting and lifestyle goods firm Schoolhouse, is attempting to bridge the gap between style and substance by turning art into product.
‘A lot of talents are creating beautiful sculptural forms, but when it comes down to it, these designs are being introduced into our kitchens and bathrooms,' Bellos says. ‘I want to push forward artistic exploration but also make sure that the results work.’
Ellis Works is based in a workshop in the Sunset Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn. From here, the company’s carefully curated selection of pulls, handles and knobs – mostly imagined by a tight roster of local artists – is produced. They’re made in different sizes and mounting styles and in ten materials, from contemporary finishes like brass and nickel, to patinas like verdigris and antique.
‘We’re trying to solve problems, help architects and interior designers have flexibility, all while maintaining our point of view,’ Bellos says. ‘Everyone loves edge pulls, but they’re hard to install, so what we did is develop a design that looks like this typology but doesn't have to be mortised-in.’ Designed in-house, the easy-to-mount ‘Throop’ collection, for example, is defined by a streamlined wave shape that allows it to function properly without having to be anchored on top of the mass of a cabinet door.
Though it might seem like Ellis Works is a career pivot for Bellos, he actually first forayed into the product category when taking over Rejuvenation Hardware 12 years ago. ‘What I was particularly drawn to was the brand’s history; going through its archive and pulling out a Sears catalogue from 1904 and seeing what could be brought back to life,’ he adds.
He spent 14 years at West Elm, where, on becoming president in 2017, he brought revenue up $2 billion. He moved to Food52 in 2022 but departed as company CEO in 2023 (Food52, the parent company of sister brands Dansk and Schoolhouse, filed for bankruptcy in December 2025).
Bellos remembers thinking, ‘I have almost 20 years of experience in the home furnishings industry; how can I take established traditions but also my own acquired knowledge and apply it in new ways that make sense?’
The potential of hardware had that special pull. ‘Since my time at Rejuvenation, I’ve loved the category,’ he says. ‘For one, it’s the real jewellery of the home. It’s also one of the only things you interact with constantly. The feeling of a brass knob in your kitchen or bathroom changes your perception of these environments.’
Bellos established Ellis Works at the end of 2025. Its name and ethos are an homage to his great-grandfather, an Austro-Hungarian immigrant who, like millions of people, came through Ellis Island to start a new life, eventually starting a butcher shop in Ridgewood, Queens.
Like his ancestors, Bellos sees value in old-world techniques; for him, there’s a special kind of magic intrinsic to hardware, that high-design can be distilled into small packages. Take a recent collaboration with the Brooklyn-based silversmith Heath Wagoner. For the ‘Tessuto Cabinet Knob’, the designer created jewellery-like pulls that resemble flowing fabrics straight from a Caravvagio painting. ‘[Heath] can do an experimental wax casting in his studio and we can bring that to market pretty much exactly as he’s done it,’ Bellos said.
Ellis Works is a lean operation for now – it’s just Bellos, a product technician and a skilled artisan. ‘We have the flexibility to test out new ideas, play and collaborate with great people,’ Bellos says. ‘There’s a spirit of partnership both on the back and front end of the process; with the talents we commission and the architects and interior designers that spec our products. I love the personal aspect; being able to talk to everyone involved.’
Wagoner isn’t the only collaborator. Artist and designer Jonathan Mergele has created ‘Ferrea’, a collection of hardware that resembles knots, the result of a trip to Portugal and observing how artisans created a cathedral grate. Kalen Kaminski, founder of multidisciplinary practice GONE, has contributed Portal, a series of mesmerising hand-blown glass knobs.
During New York Design Week, Ellis Works has teamed up with Canal Street lifestyle brand William White to stage an immersive installation that demonstrates how the hardware can be used to support different daily tasks. Also launching as part of the showcase is Scottish studio potter Joshua Williams’ all-ceramic ‘Cairnsmore’ cabinet knob.
This creative potential – that high design can be delivered in small packages – thrills Bellos. And he hints that there may even be more product categories in store for Ellis Works: ‘When starting the company, I was very specific about the idea of door and cabinet hardware being functional goods,’ he says. Now, he continues, the question has become, ‘what are other functional goods in the home?
‘What are other opportunities to experiment and play with almost any type of object that’s screwed into the wall?’
