Frank Lloyd Wright Playhouse Slim Wallet by Acme

Last updated: 29 September 2026

What the Frank Lloyd Wright wallet is

It is a long, flat wallet, the kind that lives in the inside pocket of a jacket or in a bag. Closed, it measures 8.5cm by 17.2cm. That is about as long as two bank cards laid end to end, and as wide as one bank card is long.

The outside is leather, and Acme prints the pattern straight onto it. Most of the surface is black, so the coloured circles and the small red squares stand out against it. Thin silver lines run the full length of the wallet. They frame the pattern, just as the metal strips frame the glass in the original windows.

Inside, there is a row of card slots, a long pocket for notes and room for a driving licence or ID. Wright's signature and the Acme logo are pressed into the leather inside. It arrives in a black Acme box with a black sleeve, so it is ready to give without any wrapping.

Open, the wallet shows its card slots and long note pocket. Photograph: Salts Mill Shop.

The wallet comes in a black Acme box with a sleeve. Photograph: Salts Mill Shop.

The Playhouse windows behind the pattern

In 1906, Queene Ferry Coonley started a kindergarten called the Cottage School. It ran on her family's estate in Riverside, Illinois, just west of Chicago. Her husband, Avery Coonley, was a wealthy industrialist. As the school grew, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a bigger building for it, and the Avery Coonley School dates its completion to 1912. It became known as the Coonley Playhouse.

Around the upper walls of the playroom, Wright put a continuous band of clerestory windows in clear and coloured glass. The Metropolitan Museum of Art counts more than thirty of them, each slightly different. Wright said a parade gave him the idea, and he called the scheme a "kinder-symphony". The circles are balloons, the scattered squares are confetti, and one panel carries a small American flag.

Mrs Coonley followed the teaching ideas of Friedrich Froebel, who invented the kindergarten. According to MoMA, Wright had learned with Froebel's wooden blocks as a child, and he later credited them as a major influence on his architecture.

The windows are often compared to the grid paintings of Piet Mondrian, with their black lines and blocks of primary colour. However, as the Met's own audio guide points out, Wright's windows came long before Mondrian's paintings.

If you are in New York, you can see them for yourself. MoMA owns two of the clerestory windows, and the Met shows a tall triptych window from the Playhouse in Gallery 707. The Playhouse itself still stands in Riverside, but it became a private home by the 1920s, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

Who makes it, and why stock is running out

Acme Studio is an American company that turns designs by architects, artists and musicians into pens, card cases and small leather goods. It makes this wallet under licence from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It has also made other Playhouse pieces, for example card cases and pens.

Acme's own page for the wallet, reference LW01SW, now labels it archived. Acme describes the remaining wallets as new old stock from its vault, sold only while supplies last. In other words, no more are being made.

When we searched in late September 2026, no other UK shop listed it, and neither did Amazon UK. Once Salts Mill sells out, the options left are American shops, with shipping and import charges on top, or eBay. So if you want one at £69, buy it while Salts Mill still has stock.

Frank Lloyd Wright wallet price and where to buy it

Salts Mill Shop sells the Frank Lloyd Wright wallet for £69. It is the online shop of Salts Mill, a Victorian textile mill in Saltaire, West Yorkshire. Today the mill also houses galleries of David Hockney's work, as well as a bookshop and a design shop called The Home. Entry to the mill is free, and it is open Wednesday to Sunday.

Postage is worked out at checkout. If it is not right, Salts Mill takes returns within 30 days. However, the wallet has to be unused and in its original packaging.

The catches

The length. At 17.2cm long, it is made for a jacket's inside pocket or a bag. If you carry your wallet in the back pocket of your jeans, a short folding wallet will suit you better.

The coin problem. There is no coin pocket, so loose change needs a home somewhere else.

The supply. Because Acme has stopped making it, there is no restock to wait for. A replacement later on will mean a second-hand one.

Get the Playhouse wallet at Salts Mill

Who it suits

It suits anyone who studies or works in architecture, and anyone with a Mondrian print on the wall. It also suits someone who still wears a jacket most days and likes the long wallet that goes with it. As a present, the box and sleeve do the wrapping for you.

For more architecture you can use every day, the MADE x Barbican Curve Table Lamp takes its tilting shade from the Barbican concert hall in London. Our gifts for designers guide has the rest of the design-led picks in one place.

Frank Lloyd Wright wallet: FAQs

How much is the Frank Lloyd Wright Playhouse wallet?

£69 at Salts Mill Shop, checked on 29 September 2026. Postage is added at checkout.

Is Acme still making it?

No. Acme Studio lists the Playhouse Slim Wallet as archived. It is selling the last of them as new old stock while supplies last.

What is the pattern based on?

The stained-glass clerestory windows Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Avery Coonley Playhouse in Riverside, Illinois, finished in 1912. Wright based them on a parade, with balloons, confetti and a flag.

How big is it?

8.5cm wide and 17.2cm long when closed. That is roughly two bank cards end to end. So it fits a jacket pocket or a bag better than a jeans pocket.

Is it real leather?

Yes. Acme makes it from leather and prints the Playhouse pattern directly onto it.

Does it come in a gift box?

Yes. It comes in a black Acme box with a black sleeve.

Where can you see the original windows?

In New York. MoMA owns two of the clerestory windows. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows a triptych window from the Playhouse in Gallery 707.

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