Manufacturing Quality

The manufacturing quality of Perrin & Rowe, Perrin & Rowe Contemporary and Perrin & Rowe Triflow products is truly exceptional. All components are machined or cast from solid brass in dedicated factories in England, hand polished, electroplated with a coating well in excess of the New Zealandn Standards requirement, and then carefully assembled and pressure tested to ensure an exquisite result. Read on to learn more about Perrin & Rowe’s manufacturing process. 

Where is Perrin & Rowe manufactured?

All Perrin & Rowe products are made in England, the home of high quality engineering. Perrin & Rowe uses no slave or child labour, does not take advantage of lax environmental standards, and ensures fair working conditions for all employees.

At a time when other UK and European tapware companies have moved their factories to China and other low cost manufacturing centres, Perrin & Rowe understands that products of exceptional quality cannot be made by remote control. It is only by manufacturing, polishing, plating, assembling and testing every item within their own factories in England that they can guarantee the premium quality and superior finish of their products.

What materials are used to make Perrin & Rowe products?

Tapware and accessories:

Perrin & Rowe tapware and accessories are made from high quality brass. This includes the hoses on their hand showers when the majority of hoses are now made from non-durable junk metals or plastic alloys.  Time has proven brass to be the ultimate material for tapware, withstanding years of constant use and temperature variation without cracking or distorting.

The white lever handles on Perrin & Rowe taps and white components of their bathroom accessories are fine English porcelain.

All Perrin & Rowe taps feature excellent German made ceramic disc valves for many years of accurate and effortless use. These components have a life expectancy of about 15 years, and can be easily and inexpensively replaced if necessary during the long life of the tap.

Porcelain Bathroomware:

Perrin & Rowe hand basins, pedestals and toilet suites are produced from the finest vitreous china clay by skilled craftsmen in the heart of the English pottery region. The high quality clay is sourced from Cornwall – an area famous for its award-winning porcelain. After the casting, a premium glaze is applied, before they are fired in a kiln three times at temperatures of up to 1200ºC to set the glaze and produce a lustrous and highly durable finish.

This is porcelain the way it used to be made, to give many years of enjoyment.

What is the manufacturing process for Perrin & Rowe products?

Following an intensive and uncompromising design process, every stage of Perrin & Rowe manufacturing is handled in-house, for all products, to ensure complete quality control.

All of the craftspeople involved take great pride in producing the best quality products to the highest possible standard.

Tapware:

First, the bodies of the Perrin & Rowe taps are precision machined or cast in moulds.  Once cooled, these are then polished by hand and carefully inspected to ensure a perfectly smooth surface.  Working alongside a traditionally skilled team is some of the most highly sophisticated machinery available. These machines make complex parts of the taps’ mechanism with incredible ease and precision.

Following casting, machining and polishing, the tap components are electroplated. Each item is carefully dipped in metal cation baths, to produce a lasting, lustrous finish. The thickness of the finishes on Perrin & Rowe products is more than 20 microns - twice the thickness required by the New Zealandn tapware standards.

Every part and component is then carefully checked and inspected, before being fully assembled by hand and tested to ensure perfect function.

This extensive process means that when you purchase Perrin & Rowe taps, they are fully assembled and ready to be installed. Perrin & Rowe even connect their taps to the mains water supply following assembly to ensure that they work perfectly and will not leak on installation. Occasionally a little water remains when the taps arrive in New Zealand. This simply means that you have purchased the best tapware in the world which has been fully tested and is ready to install.

As well as being fastidious in quality control, improving sustainability and reducing the environmental impact from the manufacturing process is also a priority. All of the chemicals used in the plating process are carefully removed to meet stringent British waste water standards. All waste metals are recycled and the taps and accessories are fully recyclable at the end of their life.

Porcelain Bathroomware:

As with Perrin & Rowe brassware, quality design and manufacture is also a hallmark of Perrin & Rowe porcelain hand basins and toilets.  Production takes place at a separate Perrin & Rowe factory in the heart of the English pottery country.  The exclusive designs are first modeled in plaster by hand. A mould is filled with the finest quality vitreous china clay; sourced from Cornwall which is famous for its award-winning porcelain.  A team of skilled craftsmen then smooth and fettle every piece by hand to ensure a perfect surface, before they apply a high quality glaze.  The pieces are then fired in a purpose built kiln, for 18 hours at temperatures of up to 1200ºC.  When the pieces emerge, every item is carefully checked. The craftsmen even listen to the finished porcelain! A traditional resonance test, involving tapping on the pieces and listening to the sound they make, ensures there are no hidden flaws or weaknesses and that the product is of the highest possible standard.