Most trunks ask you to kneel. This one stands at 87 cm — hip height — so the lid opens where your hands already are, and the two drawers beneath sit where you would expect drawers to sit.

The lid and the full front are clad in hand-cut leather, laid in bands and finished with domed studs along every seam. A cast lock plate and swing catch sit at the centre. The other three faces are given over entirely to vintage kilim: full-height panels on both flanks and across the back, divided by studded leather straps and held at every corner with riveted brass caps.

The lid lifts on a brass stay arm that holds it open while you load, and the void beneath is lined throughout in suede. Under it, two drawers run on soft-close runners, each fronted in kilim inside a leather surround and drawn by a knurled brass knob. The drawer boxes are suede-lined too.

The carcass is engineered board. Across a tall, narrow box it holds its geometry far better than solid timber, which cups and moves with the season and would in time throw a hinged lid out of true. The plinth and tapered legs beneath it are solid wood, finished in your choice of five tones.

Each kilim panel is hand-cut from a vintage rug, so no two trunks are alike. The pattern, colours and weave will differ from the photographs, and the panels on one trunk will not match one another — that one-of-a-kind character is the essence of the piece. The leather is lightly waxed and will darken and soften at the lid edge and drawer fronts, where hands land most.

Construction

• Engineered board carcass; solid wood plinth and tapered legs
• Hand-cut leather lid and front, banded and hand-studded
• Vintage kilim panels full height on both sides and the back
• Lift-up lid on a brass stay arm, with cast lock plate and swing catch
• Two drawers on soft-close runners, kilim-fronted, knurled brass knobs
• Suede-lined lid void and drawer boxes
• Riveted brass corner caps; leather maker's tab at the base
• 52.5 W × 46 D × 87 H cm
• Made to order — crafted in 4–6 weeks