A POTTED HISTORY OF STITCHEDBOXES
Heritage is a big part of Stitchedboxes. It has a long story beginning in 1800’s at Joseph Pickering Ltd. and since then becoming successful box making company standing out by its quality and wire stitching method.
Stitchedboxes™ is continuing a box making tradition which originated in Sheffield in the 1800’s as Joseph Pickering Ltd. The story started with a romance between the son of a silversmith and the niece of a polishing paste producer, who married in 1847. The legacy of this union includes the famous ‘Blanco’ polish, our own Stitchedboxes™ and Pickering Street, Sheffield, which was named after then councillor Joseph Pickering.
Moving to its own factory in 1906, the wire stitched box making business became a great success. And by the 1980’s cardboard box production had become the company’s lifeline. Sadly after 185 years of trading, Joseph Pickering and Sons Ltd finally fell victim to the credit crunch and, during the early part of 2009, the opportunity arose for local family run business – Arkote Ltd – to acquire the wire stitched box division of the Joseph Pickering box making business.
Arkote Ltd is another company with a long history, dating back to the Sheffield of the 1880’s. And since 2009 traditional hand-made, wire stitched box production has become part of our core business.
The wire stitched box production capability is now located within a first class manufacturing facility in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. We serve mainly the business to business market, but our stitched box clients, big or small, can be assured of receiving cost effective, high quality products fully supported by a prompt and reliable delivery service. And our wire stitched box making crafts people use sustainable, recyclable materials sourced from UK suppliers.
Arkote is ISO9001 accredited; so whether it’s garden tools or orthodontists, model trains or archival documents, research labs or fashion items, Stitchedboxes™ has the capability and resources to meet all of your storage box requirements.
Our Team
Rob
Commercial Director
10 years ago I’d never heard of a ‘stitched box’, now I’m pausing TV shows to point them out to uninterested family members. I could not be prouder of our small enterprise and the people that have literally given their entire working lives over to producing hand-made wire stitched boxes.
Helen
Export Manager
Since starting at Stitchedboxes in 2011 I have seen the business grow from mainly supplying boxes for industrial machine knives; to niche, cottage industry and (very Instagram-able!) SME’s. I am proud to have played a part in growing the business into what it is now and we adore working closely with our customers to find the perfect packaging for their product.
The passion our customers have for their brands is inspiring and really makes us strive to help bring our customers ideas come into fruition. We are proud to work as a team to produce your packaging exactly as you want it.
Anastasija
Marketing & Graphic Design Executive
Being a marketer at Stitchedboxes feels like my own creative studio, beginning with capturing the box making process and finishing by posting ready results on social media. I am responsible for anything related to representing Stitchedboxes online, such as this website that I made.
Danny
Box Craftsman
Since my start at Stitchedboxes in 2016, I have learned how to work with every machine and method we use to make our boxes. My favourite part is creating unusual box patterns – I like the idea of doing something that no one has done before.
Diane
Stitching Artisan
In my 45 years at Stitchedboxes, I’ve been involved in so many box making projects that it would be even impossible to count.
Monica
Box Artisan
I’m proud to say that I’m the longest-serving employee at Stitchedboxes with 53 years of experience.