Friday, 04 May 2012 06:46
The use of moulding as a design element dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. Crown moulding has been a part of the building tradition since Greek craftsmen influenced Roman architecture in the 2nd century BC. Greek and Roman versions of moulding are still in use today. They are considered to be the building blocks of interior ornamentation.

Kuiken Brothers Classical Moulding was designed with careful thought and consideration of the architectural details and dimensions to ensure that we were bringing back the shapes and forms of American Craftsmen from over 200 years ago.
Almost all mouldings are replicated from unique/original and custom designs from products craftsmen created more than 200+ years ago. Many of these original craftsmen studied and understood proper scale and proportion and the ancient orders of Greek and Roman architecture.
(Pictured Above: The moulding on the left is a traditional, everyday casing that has been in production for years. Over time the corners have become slightly rounded and the thickness has been reduced in order to keep costs down. The casing on the right was milled from a new CAD file introduced in Kuiken Brothers Classical Moulding collection in 2010. The profile is milled to the exact specification of the CAD drawing, ensuring that it retains the crisp details and strong shadow lines of it's original design. CAD Drawings can be found on www.kuikenbrothers.com/classical)
Over time, the designs were subtly distorted. An easy way to reproduce these elegant design elements was to take a moulding off of a wall, trace it on a piece of paper, fax it to a mill, and ask the mill to replicate it.
When mouldings go through these phases of reproduction, they inevitable lose the original crispness that was once handcrafted. Edges are rounded off, beads are no longer perfectly round, beaded planes are filled in and not as deep. One must also factor in the layers of paint that may be on top of the original moulding. Layers of paint can impact the original shape and character/ lines of the moulding once it is traced by the replicator.
In 2011, Kuiken Brothers, announced one of the largest launches of classical American moulding products ever in the United States. The KB Classical Moulding Collection catalog includes sixty-six, in-stock, historically-inspired moulding profiles, and represents classic American moulding profiles designed nearly 200 years ago. The products are categorized by architectural style (Early American, Georgian, Colonial Revival, Federal, Greek Revival, and Traditional Revival) to show which crown, casing and base mouldings go together.
Up until last year, many of these profiles were available only through custom production runs, and coordinating design elements was difficult and time-consuming. The free catalog simplifies the millwork selection process.

Kuiken Brothers offers on-line CAD files for architects and designers to incorporate detail into their blueprints. Free moulding samples are available so designers and their clients can match them to existing mouldings or see how they will actually look before installation.
If you would like more information on Kuiken Brothers Classical Moulding Collection, please give us a call or fill out the Kuiken Brothers Contact Us Form. We will contact you right away and look forward to working with you on your next moulding project!