Safe Key

40 Objects for 40 Years

A simple blue and white graphic image of an old-fashioned key.

Safe Key (c. 1850) – E. Cotterill & Co.

This ornate key is for our antique office safe.

We love our characterful and beautifully made safe, except for when it needs moving, it is VERY heavy!

It’s lovely to have an object, that we use every day, which has been made with such care and connects us the history of industrial making in Birmingham and the Jewellery Quarter.

Edwin Cotterill and Co was established in Birmingham in 1840 and made locks, safes and chests.

Nominated by:

Emma Larkinson, Operations and Development Manager
Lisa Falaschi, Marketing Manager.

To celebrate Craftspace’s 40th Anniversary, we commissioned the artist Stewart Francis Easton to create an artwork which would explore the story of Craftspace through 40 objects. Stewart created a series of four beautiful graphic quilts.

A photograph of an old-fashioned key against a white background.
A photograph of an old fashioned key in the lock of an old-fashioned safe.


Where Next

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Explore 40 Objects for 40 Years.

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Swallow Brooch

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A simple green and white graphic image of a rangoli, made of concentric circles of flowers.

Floating Rangoli (2000) by Ranbir Kaur

Explore 40 Objects for 40 Years.

A bright bouquet of flowers, laid on a table, made from ceramic. The flowers are swirls of clay in gold, silver, purple, pink, blue and red.

A Sense of Occasion

Significant Objects marking diverse contemporary occasions.



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