A legacy of art lives on through Corn & Cod Designs.

“A blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.” These words begin the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George, but they also exactly describe the artistic challenge of Sam Wilson, owner of needlepoint wholesale business Corn & Cod Designs. 

Wilson is no stranger to the art world. His late mother, Elizabeth “Liz” Mumford, was a prominent artist known in our sandy neck of the woods, specializing in the American Folk Art tradition. Mumford split her time between the Cape and the Midwest before her passing in 2020.

Wilson remembers growing up surrounded by art, “We had art covering our walls, mostly by my mother.” Friends of his inspired him to try out needlepoint, which he took up after college. He remembers Mumford, who primarily worked as a painter, trying out needlepoint as well, but deciding not to pursue it further. Wilson, on the other hand, was won over by this unique craft, and dedicated his time to learning to stitch.

Needlepoint as an artform stretches back to ancient Egypt, and is the first way humans incorporated canvas artistic material. Throughout the centuries, it has evolved in use and grown in form, seeing high usage during pivotal eras, like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and World War II. Today, needlepoint is a creative form of embroidery for pleasure as well as business, reaching artists like Wilson often through tradition and human connection.

Wilson turned his passion for needlepoint into a business after moving back to Cape Cod from Washington, D.C. during the COVID-19 pandemic. He started out by creating custom designs as wedding presents...