エリザベス女王在位７０年　記念品作りに精出す陶磁器メーカー

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】英イングランド中部ストークオントレントの陶磁器メーカー「ゴビエ」では今、エリザベス女王の在位７０周年「プラチナジュビリー」の記念品作りにいそしんでいる。（写真は英イングランド中部ストークオントレントの陶磁器メーカー「ゴビエ」で作られた、エリザベス女王の在位７０周年「プラチナジュビリー」記念の限定品のカップ）
　「こんなことは二度とないでしょう。他の女王や王が７０年間も在位する機会に私たちが立ち会う時はないでしょうから。大変なことです」。同社のオーナー、サイモン・ウィリス氏（５８）はＡＦＰに誇らしげに語った。
　エリザベス女王が即位したのは１９５２年２月６日。今年６月には記念式典が予定されている。
　ゴビエでは昨年７月から、英国伝統の花柄をあしらったプラチナジュビリー記念のカップやソーサーを販売してきた。
　商品が出来上がるまでは繊細な作業を要する。絵柄を印刷したシートをカップやプレートに手作業で丁寧に転写した後、仕上げの金彩を筆で入れ、最後に高温で焼く。値段は小さなカップで４５ポンド（約７２００円）、大きなプレートは１７５ポンド（約２万８０００円）だ。
　顧客の多くは英国内のコレクターであるため、プラチナジュビリーの記念商品に関しては迷わず新作を打ち出した。「コレクターは、女王の結婚式や戴冠式など、さまざまな行事を記念したプレートを持っているはずです」とウィリス氏。「それが伝統なのですが、いかにも英国らしいと思います」
　「陶磁器の素晴らしいところは（中略）今日作られたものが、大事に扱えば、私の息子の次の代まで残ることです」とウィリス氏は言う。
　そんなウィリス氏には、特に感銘を与えたい顧客がいる。
　「女王が膨大な陶磁器コレクションを持っていることはよく知られています。でも、私たちが手掛けた品のいくつかは、女王陛下の手に渡るかもしれません」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/04-09:08）

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 £45 ($59, 54 euros) for a small cup and £175 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 £200 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.