At her Majesty’s pleasure

I am a big supporter of the work by Fine Cell Work with their quirky and original creations, it is so wonderful to see this voluntary effort paying off for them.

At the London Design Festival, they took up residence (once again) at Tom Dixon’s The Dock to unveil a new design by Mr Dixon and handmade by prisoners. His ‘At her Majesty’s pleasure’ cushion is the latest to be added to the parade of exclusive handmade items.

Mairi Duthie, director of Fine Cell Work, said: “The charity was set up as a means of giving people a way of spending their time during periods of enforced idleness in their cells. The prisoners are taught to sew by volunteers. They get to this very high level of skill, and it means they have contact with the outside world.”

A respectable 75% of all their work is produced by men and 20 hours per week, on average, is spent by the stitchers doing embroidery in their cells. The highest earners stitch for as long as 40 hours! This is a cause well worth supporting.