From Floral Motifs to Coral Reefs

With his latest creation, jeweller Austy Lee finds inspiration in flowers and a rare beauty from the depths of the ocean

Flowers have long been a prominent motif in poetry. The ancient Greeks used them as a symbol for the beauty of youth and the fleeting nature of life, while in the Middle Ages, poets wrote of flowers as emblematic of virtue, purity and morality.

Shakespeare employed floral imagery to represent the transience of existence and the beauty of love. So too did Wordsworth, who memorably wrote: "That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."