The Nautical Needle, Holland, Mich.

This project, which won an Award of Excellence in the complete interior upholstery category of the 2009 MFA Awards, involved an interior of a 34-foot hand-crafted mahogany boat. The Nautical Needle had the honor of being chosen to design and manufacture the interior seating areas. The design had to complement the already superior quality of the boat. The company did not want something that tried to overpower the exterior. Using leather was great and kept with the era of the boat. Patterning and putting together the project with leather, having only the hide sizes to work with, made the project interesting.