The first competition for the best design of a door handle was held by the Triumphal Marka company together with the Valli & Valli factory in 2004. About 25 works were presented. The competition was "closed", leading architectural studios of Moscow were invited to participate in it. The best works were the projects of the architectural workshops DNA, Panakom and Art-Blya (now the architectural group A-B). After 2 years of work on adapting projects to the production requirements of the factory, a model of a door handle designed by Arseny Leonovich, Panakom bureau was launched into serial production. Since 2006, this model has been assigned the article H1042, it is in the main catalog of the Valli & Valli factory, it is made in two color options and is successfully sold all over the world.
In spring 2012, the ASSA ABLOY - Valli & Valli factory and the Triumfalnaya Marka company held the second competition for the best design project for a door handle. This time the competition was open and widely announced in the media, and about 500 entries were sent to it. The jury of this competition was headed by renowned architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, who themselves work closely with the Valli & Valli factory. The short list included 27 works, and the final results of the competition, prize-winners and the winner, were announced on September 26, 2012 in Moscow personally by Massimiliano Fuksas.
The winner of the competition was Moscow architect Mikhail Leikin with the SUPERSONIC project - a doorknob resembling the line of an airplane wing. The winner and prize-winners were awarded autographed books by Massimiano and Doriana Fuksas and Valli & Valli pens, made according to the project of the Fuksas spouses. In addition, the winner received a cash prize from the Triumphal Mark company.
Immediately after the announcement of the winners of the competition, in the fall of 2012 at the ISaloni Worldwide exhibition in Moscow, the Valli & Valli factory presented the first prototypes of the finalist pens. Technological nuances of production were discussed with the winner, Mikhail Leikin. Over the next year, Leikin worked on his pen project, making changes and refinements as recommended by the manufacturer.
Now, at the next Moscow exhibition I SALONI 2013, the public is shown the final version of the pen - the result of a year of collaboration between the architect and the factory. It is this model of the SUPERSONIC handle that will be mass-produced by the factory. The first batch of Mikhail Leikin's pens will soon appear in the Triumphal Mark salons in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
