BUD Designs x Cunard

From the decks of Queen Mary 2 to keepsakes with a story

After 13 years at sea and more than 1,700,000 nautical miles, the teak decking from Cunard’s iconic Queen Mary 2 has found a new purpose.

Working with Arcadia Branded Merchandise on behalf of Cunard, we were commissioned to transform reclaimed decking from the ship into 1,000 bespoke wooden keyrings, to be sold on board Cunard’s cruise ships. Each keyring carries a small piece of maritime history, having spent years exposed to the elements, sea spray and millions of footsteps from passengers travelling around the world.

Giving remarkable timber a second life

Sustainability is an important part of how we work at BUD Designs. We would never choose to use newly harvested tropical hardwoods such as teak, but reclaimed timber is a different story. Rather than allowing this beautiful material to go to waste, we had the opportunity to give it a new purpose, preserving a little of its history along the way.

And what a beautiful material it turned out to be. Beneath the weathered surface of the original decking were rich colours and stunning grain patterns, each piece with its own character developed over years at sea. It wasn’t without its challenges, however!

The challenges of working with teak

Teak is not a timber we normally work with, and we quickly discovered just how tough it can be on cutting tools. Its naturally high silica content makes it particularly abrasive, blunting saw blades remarkably quickly. Something we hadn’t fully appreciated when we started!

The first challenge was removing the stubborn caulking from between the original decking planks. Once cleaned, the timber could be re-sawn and sanded down to the required thickness. Only then could we begin turning the reclaimed wood into finished keyrings.

From weathered decking to finished keepsake

Each keyring went through a carefully considered production process, combining modern machinery with traditional hand finishing.

  • Laser cutting and engraving: Each piece was cut and engraved with the Cunard logo on both sides. Bespoke jigs allowed us to turn the keyrings over and position the engraving centrally and consistently.
  • Three stages of sanding: Removing laser burn, shaping the timber and rounding over the edges to create a smooth, tactile finish.
  • Finished with Danish Oil: Applied by hand to protect the timber and bring out its natural colours and grain.
  • Final assembly: Each keyring was fitted with its metal chain and a bespoke presentation card, printed locally for us by Reeds Printers.

One of the more skilled parts of the process was hand shaping each keyring on the disc sander. Spinning the timber against the sanding disc at just the right speed allows us to remove the laser burn and create the smooth finish we were looking for. Doing this once is fairly straightforward, repeating it 1,000 times whilst keeping the shapes consistent takes rather more practice!

With a six-week turnaround, the finished keyrings were carefully packed in bundles of ten, protecting the presentation cards and ensuring they arrived ready for their next journey.

More than just a keyring

What makes projects like this special is the story behind the material.

Each keyring is a small piece of Queen Mary 2’s history. The variations in colour and grain are part of that story, reminders of the years the timber spent travelling the world’s oceans. For us, this is what good design and making can achieve. Taking something that has reached the end of one life and finding a meaningful new purpose for it.

A thousand individual keepsakes, each with a story worth telling.

 

Have timber with a story?

We love working with businesses and organisations to turn reclaimed or unusual timbers into something beautiful, useful and made to last. Whether it’s a bespoke gift, commemorative piece or a larger production run, we’d love to hear what you have in mind.