Presentation is so essential, especially for gifts. You want the person receiving a gift to be in love with the present before they’ve even seen it. This is presentation, it’s theatre and that’s what our scarf box is.

Luxury brands have long used elegant boxes for their goods and if you own a piece of Apple equipment you will know that ownership and commitment starts with the box. I therefore wanted to present each scarf in a box but that the box must reflect the quality of the scarf and very much be part of the experience of owning one of the scarves. There were a number of areas to consider when designing the box, it would be, after all, the first thing that you saw if you were given a scarf as a gift. Careful consideration was given to how the box should look, what its function was and how it would feel. I also wanted to design the scarf box with theatre in mind so that it both protected the beautiful silk scarf whilst being stylish and creating a sense of excitement.

There were a couple of functions that the box had to perform. Obviously, it had to contain the scarf but importantly it had to contain the booklet. I had always wanted to include something about the trees that I photographed and the original project that really focussed on a sense of what we leave behind. This was best served by including a booklet with each scarf. There were some false starts about the shape of the box but ultimately a deeper, smaller box was designed that allowed the scarf to be rolled rather than laid flat. Its internal measurements are about 6 x 4 inches, which appealed to the photographer in me as it is the size of a classic photograph.

Everything is manufactured in Britain

The box is made by Pollard Boxes from card and covered in a speckled purple paper sourced from the UK. The only branding on the box is a simple silver stamped signature and “Made in Britain”. This purple and silver branding is maintained throughout. The box lid is engineered to fit snugly whilst the sides are chevroned so it is easy to slide off. Removing the top reveals the booklet sitting on a hinged lid, which has a thumbhole so that it too is easy to lift. Beneath the hinged lid sits the carefully rolled scarf. The interior of the box is lined with black paper so that the colours in the scarf are emphasised. All of the component parts are manufactured in Britain.