In celebration of the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the Platinum Jubilee Basket is adorned with flowers which represent the four parts of the United Kingdom, incliding the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and traditional Belleek shamrocks, to represent Northern Ireland.

The beautiful handmade Belleek basket will be gifted to Her Majesty in the coming weeks to mark the Platinum Jubilee in June.

This is a tradition that has been part of Belleek’s history since a piece was presented to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

A duplicate will be displayed in an upcoming Coronation exhibition at Enniskillen Castle.

Talking to The Impartial Reporter about the design process of the exquisitely-detailed piece, Claire Rowe, Head of Design at Belleek Pottery Ltd., said: “Really, we just try and create something new every time.

“When I came up with the concept, I thought it would be nice to represent the four parts of the UK, and that was easy to do by using the flowers of each region.

READ ALSO: Belleek PS: New principal at Fermanagh school

‘Heritage’

“It’s great to do something timeless and quite classic. The oval shape of the basket is quite an old shape that we do in the pottery; it’s nice to do something that represents the heritage.”

After she designed the basket, Claire portrayed her ideas to craftsperson John Doogan.

“John has been here for more than 40 years. We work with him to develop the flowers.

“We tried to make it as detailed as we could; the flowers are as heavily embellished as they could be, just to make the basket really look alive,” said Claire, adding: “I love working with the different textures as well, and the different patterns, so it’s just trying to create contrast within the flowers too.”

The Belleek Pottery Platinum Jubilee Basket which will be presented to Her Majesty The Queen.

The basket was then hand-painted by Rachel Love, master painter at Belleek Pottery.

“The Mother of Pearl lustre alone dates back to 1870. That iridescence on the Belleek is lovely, and we don’t use it an awful lot, usually it’s the pastel colours,” explained Claire, noting how the Mother of Pearl adds a luxurious finish, appropriate for such an important piece.

The basket also features a little plaque with the words, ‘HRH Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee June 2022’ painted in platinum.

READ ALSO: The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Fermanagh celebrations planned

A special platinum backstamp has been added to the base, and a certificate of authenticity is also included.

“It has turned out to be a really lovely piece,” Claire told this newspaper.