Following our recent post on Queen Elizabeth II's Globe-Trotter luggage, we thought it useful to dig a little deeper into how that luggage is made, by featuring the video above of the construction process in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

Now we might suggest that the music is a little dramatic - it seems to expect the viewer to break down in tears at the sheer beauty of the iron machinery. But the craft being shown is impressive, and the factual guide even more so. At The Rake we love details like the fact that the distinctive fibreboard is cut by a Victorian blunt-edge guillotine. Being blunt edge means it is not sharp. The sheer weight of the blade is sufficient to cut the compressed sheets of paper. 

Plus I, personally, can speak to the great value and character of the suitcases, having used one to travel for several years now and always checked it through security. No baggage handler has managed to break it yet. And more importantly, it only looks better with age.