STOKE-ON-TRENT, United Kingdom, March 27, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - In his ceramics
workshop, Simon Willis proudly displays the crockery set he has created for
Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, dreaming it will end up in the
monarch's personal collection.

  "It's an event which won't ever happen again, we won't have the chance of
seeing another queen or king on the throne for 70 years. So it's a big deal,"
he told AFP.

  Willis is the owner of Goviers in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, which
has specialised in making commemorative ceramics for more than 30 years.

  Elizabeth became queen on February 6, 1952, and June will be the focal
point of public celebrations to mark her unprecedented 70-year reign.

  To celebrate the occasion, Goviers has been selling a "Platinum Jubilee"
range of cups and plates with traditionally English floral designs since last
July.

  The work is meticulous, with each coloured pattern in the motif
individually printed onto a transfer and applied by hand on the fine
porcelain cups and plates.

  A ceramist brushes the final golden touches to the piece, which is then
fired to make it ready for sale.

  From the rough cup to the final dabs of paint, everything is made in Stoke-
on-Trent, which is also known as The Potteries.

  The city has been renowned for its pottery for centuries, taking advantage
of local clay for making the ceramics and coal deposits for firing them.

  It became the world's centre of pottery production in around 1800,
prospering for decades before going into sharp decline, with factories
closing and relocating to Asia.

  - 'Very English tradition' -

  "A lot of the manufacturing has gone abroad," due to cost of production,
said the 58-year-old owner.

  But those factories don't produce jubilee pieces because "they see the
market is not big enough for them", he added.

  Willis stumbled into the ceramics industry after studying economics,
specialising in the auto industry.

  Given most of his customer are collectors from Britain, he had no
hesitation in creating a new jubilee line.

  "They've probably got plates to celebrate the queen's marriage, or the
coronation, all these other events," he said of his clientele.

  "They are just a tradition, I suppose, that is very English."

  Selling for between o45 ($59, 54 euros) for a small cup and o175 for a
large plate, Goviers crockery is not intended to be used as a mere kitchen
utensil.

  Instead it is meant to be displayed alongside other commemorative ceramics.

  "The British ceramics industry has always been good at marking those
occasions, big or small," said Willis.

  "The great thing about ceramics is that... whatever is produced today, if
it's looked after will still be around when my son is probably gone.

  "We're producing something that is intrinsically there forever," he added.

  - Economic benefits -

  Souvenirs dedicated to the popular queen, who turns 96 next month, and the
wider royal family are typically rolled out to mark every birth, wedding and
celebration.

  Such souvenirs generated almost o200 million in revenue during the Diamond
Jubilee in 2012, with five million commemorative cups and ceramics sold,
according to the UK's Centre for Retail Trade.

  Four days of public festivities are planned for early June, including a
military parade, a large concert and thousands of street parties around the
country.

  Despite Brexit and the pandemic, tourists are expected in their droves.

  Goviers expects to sell only a few hundred cups and plates, but its boss
hopes his tableware will be remembered.

  "It is a little bit special doing something that is associated with a royal
event, a big event... for an occasion which has been celebrated all over the
world," said Willis.

  He is particularly keen to impress one potential customer.

  "We do know that the queen obviously has a massive collection of ceramics.
But a couple of things that we've done, they may well get into the hands of
Her Majesty," he added.