Looking Back at a Quarter Century of Czech Clickers

This year is a milestone for the only Czech manufacturer of design door and window hardware M&T as it celebrates 25 years since its establishment. Despite challenging beginnings, the company, led by the Ulich brothers, has successfully positioned itself among the European top in the industry, thanks not only to their tireless diligence and ambition but primarily to their emphasis on quality and original authorial design.

Ivo, Petr and Roman Ulich, photo: Source M&T

The market for door and window hardware has, of course, evolved over the 25 years – today, handles are not perceived merely as functional interior elements lacking aesthetic aspects, but rather as important details that underscore its character. Significant changes are particularly noticeable in efforts to minimize the functional parts of handles – namely their mechanics, in which the manufacturer M&T has made a significant contribution. The fact that innovation is one of its main priorities is evidenced by 154 registered designs and patents. M&T's product range includes a total of 472 handle models and a total of 5,460 complete products, including various accessories for doors and windows. In just one year, M&T produces 125,000 sets of handles, and their hardware can be found on doors in 55 countries around the world. For the production of handles, M&T uses two primary high-quality materials – solid brass and stainless steel, and 15 high-quality surface finishes.

How has time passed with M&T?

1997

• Ivo and Roman Ulich found the company M&T and initially import handles from abroad, primarily from Turkey.
  
  

2000

• Roman Ulich starts designing his own authorial handle designs. M&T begins its own manufacturing, completely in Czech production. Initially, the production is divided among individual workshops of freelancers, and the products are assembled and packaged at M&T's headquarters. Soon, the oldest brother, Petr, joins the company, responsible for production and the daily operations of M&T.
  
  

2003

• M&T launches the ENTERO handle within the Design 2004 hardware range, which anticipates the later trend of angular shapes by more than two years. As a result, M&T opens the door to all dealers in the Czech Republic that had previously offered hardware from abroad.
  
  

  
  
  
  

2006

• Due to the success of the Design 2006 hardware range at the Practical World trade fair in Cologne, the family company M&T establishes itself among respected manufacturers of design hardware in Europe.
  
  

2008

• M&T opens its own showrooms and sales warehouses with a complete offer of its products in Prague, Brno, Plzeň, and Bratislava. Subsequently, a financial and economic crisis occurs, which M&T utilizes to improve its internal processes and focus on foreign markets.
  
  

2009

• M&T presents the Design 2009 hardware collection, which features the MIMOLIMIT handles designed by designer Barbora Škorpilová.
  
  

  
  
  
  

2011

• Within the Design 2011 hardware collection, M&T introduces the MINI door handles, which utilize a new construction system of four push springs with an active slip function. This allows for minimizing the dimensions of the cover rosettes.
  
  

2012

• At the MADE EXPO international construction fair in Milan, the newly launched M&T MINIMAL / MAXIMAL hardware collection receives a great response for its unique solution of a rosette that does not exceed the outline of the handle.
  
  

2013

• M&T receives the prestigious international RED DOT Design Award for the MINIMAL / MAXIMAL hardware collection.
• Construction begins on a new manufacturing hall in Dobruška – the M&T Manufactory.
  
  

  
  
  
  

2015

• The manufactory is fully operational and contributes to the improvement of processes throughout the entire production.
• M&T wins a three-year legal dispute with a foreign company that copied the authorial design of several M&T handle models.
  
  

2017

• Within the Design 2017 hardware collection, M&T presents two new rosette solutions – magnetic and recessed.
• To celebrate the company's twentieth anniversary, M&T introduces the unique glowing handle MINIMAL BLACK MATT 20 YEARS LIGHT.
  
  

2018

• M&T launches the Design 2018 hardware collection, which includes two atypical models – ROCKSOR designed by Ing. arch. Stanislav Fiala, and INDUSTRY SQUELETTE.
  
  

  
  
  
  

2019

• At the 21st annual Designblok, M&T presents the innovative MAGNETIC door control system without a handle, lock, or electronics and wins the main prize in the category of Best New Product Manufacturer.
  
  

2020

• The MAGNETIC door control system combined with the YES! and KONZERVA 220 handles brings M&T two, or rather three prestigious international awards – Double RED DOT Design Award for the variants with YES! and KONZERVA 220, and Good Design Award awarded in Australia.
  
  

  
  
  
  

2021

• The company M&T is nominated for the Czech Grand Design award in the category of Manufacturer of the Year for the MAGNETIC system.
• M&T introduces two novelties – the UP & DOWN hardware designed by the design duo Herrmann & Coufal and the MINIMAL 2.0 handle with an integrated WC/bathroom lock.
  
  

2022

• The UP & DOWN hardware made in collaboration with the design duo Herrmann & Coufal brings M&T a nomination for the Czech Grand Design award in the category of Manufacturer of the Year.
• M&T celebrates 25 years since its founding. For this anniversary, the company "gifted itself" a change of legal form from a limited liability company to a joint-stock company and its entry onto the Prague Stock Exchange.