Our Austin Design Center recently hosted Emtek’s Director of Sales for a continuing education unit about personalizing hardware and the demand for electronic locks.
About Alex
Alex Long is the Director of Sales (Central) at EMTEK Products Group, a Fortune Brands Innovations Company. He has over a decade of experience leading international sales teams in the decorative plumbing/hardware and the building materials industry.
Throughout his career, he has been on the Leadership Development Council for Southern Wholesalers Association as well as on the Alumni Advisory and Development Board for the Department of Communication at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has been honored by being voted “Supply House Times Young Executives” by American Supply Association and “Arkansas Business 20 in Their 20’s.” He is active in his community and has been named “Finest Young Professional” on behalf of his volunteer work at Cystic Fibrous Foundation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Business Marketing from University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He resides in Little Rock, AR with his wife, Sharonda and his son, Jack.
About Emtek
Founded in 1981, Emtek door and cabinet products are offered in the finest designer showrooms and independent hardware retailers in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Personal style lives in the details. This is a belief valued at Emtek since they began. For over 40 years, Emtek has helped design lovers transform houses into homes with customizable door and cabinet hardware. Each moment is an opportunity to express your taste and invite others to experience your home as only you can imagine it––like a handshake from your home as they enter.
There is no predetermined combination of knobs, levers, rosettes or finishes; Emtek allows you to create a custom, mix and match lock that is assembled to order, with no additional upcharge or lead time. From idea to concept, Emtek’s custom made products are thoughtfully designed and built to order from their Los Angeles-based warehouse.
Emtek believes door hardware should make a statement… your statement.
Key Take Aways
We asked Alex for some key take-aways from the event.
What makes Emtek door hardware a quality product?
Alex: Premium Quality that you can see and feel is built into each and every Emtek product. It’s about form and function working in beautiful harmony. Our promise is to deliver the best performing hardware, always using quality materials. Because when you touch an Emtek product, we want you to feel safe, confident and impressed.
What Inspires Emtek for new designs?
Alex: Our design team takes inspiration from all walks of life – fashion, art, travel, and more.
By seeking inspiration from outside our industry and having a strong understanding of what consumers want, we drive the design conversation forward. We design for desire. And we celebrate people’s desire to express themselves through fashionable designs and carefully selected details to create a personal connection with their homes. By offering unique designs that are attainable, we elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Built into that design process is the idea of personalization, which at its core, is the heart of what Emtek does.
Director of Design and New Product Innovation, Will Zhang, is constantly ideating on how the fundamental mechanics of hardware can be used in new and interesting ways and how those component pieces can be customized to match an overall room theme or design.
This direction has manifested in collections like the Spoke Knob and the Select Collection, which allows for a new level of customization between the components of your knob or lever style, as well as new accessory product categories like textured hinge tips.
What is something a builder/designer told you when you first entered the industry?
Alex: “EMTEK is a designer’s dream – offering so many unique finishes, textures, options, etc. We use it on all of our projects.”
I think the above is a summary how EMTEK is helping drive the decorative hardware business forward. It boils down for all employees to share and educate all of the abilities of the company and the product we offer – and this is why we enjoyed partnering with Tri Supply and hosting a CEU – to educate the design community together.
If we could take away some key points from this class, what would they be?
Alex: Two key take aways are Personalization & Electronic Locks.
- Consumers demand and expect companies offering personalized solutions. According to McKinsey and Co, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized products, services and communications. EMTEK offers this platform throughout their portfolio offering and it allows the consumer to create unique options, specifically personalized for them.
- The global smart lock market is currently valued at $1.6 B and is estimated to reach $8.1 B by 2030. EMTEK offers a wonderful selection of electronic locks that are design centric and offer them via Yale Ecosystem, which is the leading ecosystem in the world in smart locks.
Tri-Supply was very happy to host this continuing education unit and we have more planned in the very near future. If you’d like to attend those events, please let us know, and we’ll share the upcoming continuing education units schedule with you.