Pins and Needles Workbox

This heirloom piece is created to my and my father’ design in sapele wood(African mahogany) by my cabinet-maker, Peter Blomfield of Cornwall. These boxes were originally designed to fit The Blackwell Roundel Embroidery, inspired by the White Drawing Room in the Arts and Crafts style Blackwell House in the Lake District.

The box shape takes inspiration from the clocks of the Arts and Crafts period and follows the key principles of this design movement, which required an object to be useful as well as beautiful and to be crafted using time-honoured hand skills. The box includes a drawer inlaid with the lettering ‘Pins & Needles’ in the Arts and Crafts style, a tweed-covered pin cushion atop a removable lid revealing a shallow storage tray, and an opening door at the reverse revealing access to the front aperture and a large storage area.

There is a choice of colours for the inlaid drawer front: mahogany with maple inlaid lettering, and maple with mahogany inlaid lettering.  Both have mother-of-pearl pin heads.

The feet are turned from stainless steel by my father and are blued to give the petrol-like finish. This colour, and that of the turquoise tweed, are inspired by the jewel-like tiles of the fireplace in the White Drawing Room, a room which is otherwise almost all pure white.

Included with your box are conservation quality UV filtered glass, laser-cut disc on to which your work can be mounted, laser-cut spacer rings to lift the glass from the work. The box kit also includes the components required to create the pin cushion, including laser-cut conservation card disc, sheep wool padding and Yorkshire tweed.

The kit also includes a warm salmon-coloured tweed to line the lid compartment and drawer. Height 25cm, with 20cm, depth 12cm, aperture diameter 11cm The images shown provide as accurate an impression as possible of the colour and texture of the wood/s from which these items are made.

However, please be aware that each item will be unique in its grain and patterning.