Compact cork wallet

Beige lining, slanted slots and a see-through panel

Open it out flat and the mood changes: the lining is a pale beige textile with a fine cross-hatch grain, stitched along every edge with matching thread. The left panel carries two slanted slots and the centre panel three stacked ones: five card slots in all. The right panel is given over to a clear ID window with a cut-away corner and a small metal stud holding its top edge, so a pass or a card can be shown without being pulled out. Behind those rows, the note section runs the full width of the wallet, deep enough for notes folded once and for the receipts that come back with them. To see where it sits in the range, browse the women's wallets sorted by size and material.

Barely thicker than a card, folded in three

The stated size is 11x9cm when folded shut, roughly the footprint of a bank card with a little margin around it. The three panels close one over the other, so the printed face is what ends up against the lining of a pocket or the inside of a bag. There is no zip around the outside and no press stud: the flap simply folds over and stays put, and the only hardware you see is the pair of metal tabs standing proud of the top edge. That makes it a wallet for the short list rather than the whole drawer: a couple of cards, a folded note, the change from a coffee. It slips into a jacket pocket or the zipped compartment of a handbag without pushing anything else out of the way, and it comes back out without snagging.

Compact cork wallet printed with mandalas

The pattern is printed flat onto the cork, not embossed or burnt in, and the speckling of the material shows through wherever the ink leaves a gap. Whole rosettes sit at the centre of the front panel while others are cropped by the edges and carry on around the folded sides, each one drawn with the same black outline but filled differently: scalloped bands, fanned petals, rows of dots. The colours arrive in flat blocks rather than gradients, which is what keeps the drawing legible on a surface this small.

A coin section on a snap frame

Change is kept in its own pocket, and that pocket closes on a metal frame rather than a zip. Press the two slim metal arms together and it opens wide, the beige gussets spreading out so the whole base shows at once rather than having to be felt for. The outer wall of that pocket is cut from the same printed cork as the rest, which is why nothing breaks the pattern when the wallet is closed. Cork turns up on bigger pieces too: see the cork styles gathered in their own section.

Wallet at a glance