In early 1999 Bradford City Council invited Chrysalis Arts to join the design team working on a city centre refurbishment scheme adjacent to Forster Square station. Artist Rick Faulkner collaborated with the City Centre Manager, Planners, Highways Engineers, Landscape Architects and Street Lighting Engineers.

A core aim of the project was to create new, more accessible routes from the Railway Station into the shopping areas. This involved transforming Duke Street from a run down back alley/loading area into a refurbished thoroughfare into the city. The artist presented the concept of Connecting the City with a series of artworks,

The first site to be commissioned was Duke Street for which the Artist proposed a 6 metre high stainless steel needle with a fibre optic thread knotted in the eye, a pattern of fibre optic lighting in the paving reflects the marks made by sewing. Barriers with a design based on needles and threads were sited at either side of the sculpture. The work acknowledges Bradford's textile industries especially the Burlers and Menders who were the women who handpicked over the textiles when they came off the machines. They used needles for this process and were an essential part of quality control in the mills. The sculpture has a lively contemporary feel and serves as a landmark feature for Duke Street as an important route from the Station. At night the four-colour change sequence of the fibre optic lighting combined with reflective qualities of the stainless steel adds to the vibrant atmosphere of the City's club land.