Our ADR Bauhaus Modern Cornice with hand applied French Silver Leaf finish!
Elegant, clean, simple, efficient traverse with cord or better selling zip track.

We are selling many more with our zip track inside and full open draw for multiple open draws or full left or right draw.
The largest we have made so far is 40'  FOOT LONG OPEN DRAW!
Of course any custom length is possible.
Shipped motor freight over 8'6" long.

Made of lightweight but strong aluminum with a perforated angle iron full back so you always hit a stud. It's so much fun to always hit that stud...

This cornice, if painted is available in custom bends for a bay window or corner window.
Double rod available also.

The French Silver Leaf Finish adds additional texture to the finish and a subtle shine.

best!
Whitney

Whitney & the Welders, 1994

It’s fun to manufacture in the USA! Is it easy? No. It is hard work, humbling, often humorous and defiantly worth it. Over twenty years ago I founded The Antique Drapery Rod Company with a passion to bring the quality of museum collections and authentic antique hardware into our homes. (And utilize my crazy obsession for architectural antiques.) Using old world craftsmanship, hand forging, hand casting and hand painting is an eco responsible process for the health of our employees, our customers and the planet. This business model propelled our little company to the forefront of the window hardware industry and we have been innovators ever since. Our Environmentally Responsible Product Designs In 1991 our very first labels had our environmental statement on our 100% recycled paper and many clients thought it irrelevant. Now some of them are our biggest promoters.

Our development of many unique trademarks and patents includes: our patented “Quick Cornice” (1996), easily shaped eco-industrial cardboard folded into a cornice, our patented “Traverse Ring Sets” (2000), our patented Food Paint (2004) is “the healthiest paint you can buy”™, made from up to 96% food ingredients, instead of a gallon of petrochemicals. Our work in bio based resins began with research in the late 90’s and our first half container of corn cellulose plastic shipped in from Germany in 2001. Our signature “cast wood” curtain rings are made from bio based resin instead of wasting 60% of the wood when routed. They are also stronger, with no knots or cracks. Our bio-based “art resin” is custom designed for our hand casting. Ask yourself: Does hardware (or any household product) need to be made from a petrochemical plastic that will never biodegrade, only photodegrade into smaller pieces that wind up toxic matter in our waters and food sources? Our natural bamboo drapery rods are made from one of the world’s fasted growing renewable resources. Our wood rods are produced in the beautiful American Northwest in a manner that saves our forests and biodiversity for our children’s children. Made in the U.S.A. As a product designer from generations of engineers, I am fascinated with how things are made, where every small part comes from and whose hands made them. I have visited over 50 countries, and visited production facilities in over 40 countries. In the past we have done business with India, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Italy, Peru, Mexico, Canada and more. The majority of our products have always been made In the U.S.A. In the end, it is about WHO makes the product, how and why, that defines its intrinsic lasting quality. It is NOT about a cheap material or price, nor cheap labor or lack of environmental standards, nor lack of decent working conditions, which may include the right to religion and family time. Please remember you change the world with your dollar, with what you choose to buy and where it is made. Please look for the label and buy “Made in the USA”. We stand in support of the cost of doing business in America and support the Environmental Protection Agency particularly when they keep industries like chrome casting from leaving toxic heavy metals leaking into our water sources for generations to come. (ADR does not make any chrome products, only recycled aluminum). We support OSHA and safe working conditions for American employees. These are our families. We do not aim to be the fastest drapery rods in the west, but we are the most authentic: in our design sources, our environmental integrity and our employees’ commitment to quality. We hope you enjoy our products. Please visit our website and see a film of our ADR manufacturing family. Also Facebook “like” your favorite products and tell us what else you might want us to make for you? And yes, I can weld when needed. Please know that each and every one of us at ADR appreciates your business! Whitney Walker CEO, Antique Drapery Rod Co. Inc P.S., In 2011 we launched our new, 40 fabulous hand finishes, exclusive to the trade line. Please visit www.gracehardware.net.

where does the wood in that rod come from??

Yes, the company that makes rods asks you: "do you really know where your wood rod comes from?"

 NO, I have not been drinking and this is not a viagra ad.

Have you seen where wood from China comes from? Have you seen the clear cut forests of madagascar and South America and even the United States?

The destruction of uncontroled deforestation is horrific. Destruction of plants, animals, insects, biodiversity.

Would you much rather being involved with wood grown in a sustanable, eco system that supports bio diversity? A system that cleans the air and provides a home for birds, bees and all the microorganisms that build a healthy planet.

Welcome to our world!
This is an AMERICAN SUSTAINABLE FOREST!
This is where my wood comes from.
This is happiness and home for animals, birds, bees.
This is the product that I choose to put in our customers homes.
It costs more, a lot more..... but you're worth it.

Whitney

Hand cast, bio based, biodegradable bio resins

We have huge fun here at ADR!

We are one of the last facilties to actually "Hand Cast" in the USA. These type of artisal jobs all moved to Asia in the 50's and then to China permanently by the end of the recession. Even with less expensive labor in Asia, the art of hand casting has been lost to the machine injection molding companies.

However here at ADR we can bring in an architectural antique in the morning. Make a plaster mold and a slip mold and by the end of the next business day our finished mold will capture the dust and peeling paint detail from the original for dozens and dozens of exact copies.

Of course we have also made some odd additional casts; a few faces, Robert's Jobu statue for his baseball good fortune, ancient acanthus leaves for hair ornaments, architectural details for molding or cornices.

Many years ago I started our "BIP" program: "Boycott If Possible" against petrochemical plastics.We had worked to develop specialized bio based casting materials so we did not use petro plastics. My Father, an amazing engineer, was instrumental in the chemistry/ math area. He was in the top .30 per cent of the nation in math in high school. (was I actually left on the doorstep?) Our bio plastics are made from bamboo cellulose (Our "wood style" rings) and the castor oil plant (our hand cast brackets and finials) and we have some rings made from corn cellulose

After a visit to the Frankfurt product design fair in 2002 I originally had to import corn cellulose plastics from Germany even though the corn was grown in the US.

Germany is currently the world leader in eco responsible materials use. After World War 2 Germany was completely trashed by both the Allied bombing and thier own arms and chemical warfare manufacturing. They set up a very disciplined manifesto to rebuild Germany into the pristine country of thier past. Thier water filtration systems and trash requirements are wonderful.

I have always enjoyed the view of all the "green roofs" in Frankfurt, literally wild grass growing on the roofs as both an insulating material and home for wild birds and foraging for bee's.(We are always big on bee's!)   There are even views of green roofs from the Frankfurt airport if you are just passing thru.

The next time you pick up a finial, hold it in your hand for a moment and feel the weight. Ask yourself "Is this a petrochemical plastic, that will phytodegrade into thousands of tiny carcinogenic pieces in my descendents water supply, food chain or the ocean?"

Or is this finial made responsibly, from a bio based, bio degradable plastic that will last hundreds of years in the right conditions, but turn into an actual food when it is placed with bacteria in a land fill? If it is a product from that slightly obsessed Whitney Walker, you know the answer. We build green.

I love my MEV! (Magnificent Electric Vehicle)



I have owned a half dozen range rovers,a half dozen jags, a half dozen mercedes including a beautiful biodiesel mercedes. I owned a prius and a lexus hybrid.

But my favorite car ever is my Chevy Volt! Great handling, speedy, zippy and I feel primitively sexy when I plug it in to charge up with wind power instead of plugging a car in to suck fossil fuels.

I will always be a sucker for speed in Jags, Ferrari's and Mazerati's. And you can't beat the grounding and utilty of a truck. but there is no joy in the petrochemical pollution.

I laugh when my friends say "You're driving a Chevrolet?" It's just far sexier to recharge with wind power than drive the gas guzzling import. And I am buying Made in the USA, keeping auto industry jobs here, which in turn helps current and future generations of Americans.

My Mick Jagger favorite song: "Start Me Up" is now sung with "plug me in, plug me in, plug me in!"

Top 10 Things Americans Can do to Clean Up the USA

1. Boycott coal power which is 54 0/0 of US air pollution, buy wind or solar energy for your home and business.

2. Drive an electric car (or no car!) and recharge it with wind or solar energy sources.

3. Boycott petro plastic bottled water, bottled beverages - use aluminum or glass instead!

4. Boycott petro plastic in foods, styrofoam, plastic straws, plastic bags and businesses that use them. These plastics cause ground water toxins in local dumps when plastics phytodegrade and become tiny particles of carcinogens. Petro plastics affect seafood with plastics in the great pacific garbage dumps and other gyros building around the planet.

5. Boycott non-organic foods. Buy only organic food. Think about it: if pesticides kills a small bug, eventually the cumulative effect will kill the biggest bugs and humans!

6. Donate to the NRDC National Resources Defence Council, who scores more big wins for the USA than most environmental organizations. You can also donate to Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Audubon  Center for Biological Diversity or the Union of Concerned Scientists.

7. Buy only organic cotton clothing, bedding and textiles. Conventional cotton uses 24 0/0 of the entire planets pesticides. At least 2 pounds of toxic chemicals are used to produce one pound of conventional cotton. Do not wear non bio degradable clothing such as polyester, as it may wind up in the ocean.

8. Boycott GMO foods wherever possible. Especially "round up pesticide resistant" corn. The GMO companion pesticides and GMO systemic pesticides are killing bees, beneficial insects, biodiversity and are putting huge cancers in the food chain. Support labeling all GMO products.

9. Buy local organic food. Get to know the people who grow your food! Grow some of your own when possible. Great Britain Victory gardens are inspiration for small pieces of land that produce local food you can trade and gift.

10. Use every one of your purchases to choose a healthier planet. Toxic products such as pesticide soaked food, clothing or home goods, bleached non reforested copy paper, plastic bottle water and bags, etc. will be obsolete when there is no one to buy them! Informed consumers are changing the world.

Lonny August 2012 | Lonnymag.com

Lonny August 2012 | Lonnymag.com

Meet Angelica, who came to work for me almost 20 years ago, in 1992. She has an artists eye for detail and manages around 20 employees in our hand painted finishes. Angelica is kind and steadfast with her staff and tries to be easy on me. I know who I really work for.... She works with me on over 62 finishes! Many of these finishes require up to 7 layers of paint with a long dry time in between. Many designers are surprised to learn we really ARE made in USA. Not just assembled or designed in the USA. We actually hand finish each piece.

In our experience Interior Designers and thier clients DO CARE about the provenence of a product! Most are not really aware that probably 80% of the window hardware sold in the US is made in China and sits in containers at a warehouse dock, painted in high VOC (Volatile Organic Conpound) petrochemical finishes that may off gas in your home.

However when they meet our staff at the Antique Drapery Rod Company they realize we are Authentically Hand Made in the USA!  Our designers love it! They pass this info to thier clients and build more customer loyalty for thier design business also.

Keep your rod level!
Whitney Walker
CEO The Antique Drapery Rod Co.

Bauhaus Modern Aluminum Collection!

Antique Drapery Rod Company, Bauhaus Modern Aluminum Collection

We have an ADEX Award for this collection!

My inspiration for this collection was the Bauhaus School of Design, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Weimar, Germany. It was the beginning of the international modernist movement. Bauhaus influenced famous architects, designers and artists such as Mies Van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, Isamu Noguchi, Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian.

Our Antique Drapery Rod Co aluminum rods are custom milled for us from PCW (post consumer waste) upcycled aluminum. A sleek modern example of “upcycling.” When a product is recycled into a more expensive product, increasing the recycled materials value. The use of this commercial grade material for simplistic hardware is in keeping with the philosophy of the Bauhaus modernist movement

12 exciting new adr rods with architrac!

We are so excited about our new ADR Zip Rods! 12 adr rods with architrac: in fluted, smooth and carved wood rod, in 2" and 3" scale wood, in 2" and 1" metal rods and in shiny polished aluminum and hand tortoise shelled bamboo. We just uploaded the page on our website today. Visit our website to see the great Zip brackets to connect zip rods with architrac to unlimited lengths. Great for a 20 foot long wall of windows with a full open draw!