As Belleek celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, it does so as virtually a brand new entity. No longer focusing on traditional assortments – which many viewed as too Irish – the Belleek Living Collections have injected a much-needed jolt of adrenaline at just the right time.

On the picturesque verdant banks of Lough Erne in the most westerly village of Northern Ireland, lies the Emerald Isle’s oldest pottery, the 150-year-old Belleek, named for the quiet border village in County Fermanagh. Over decades, Belleek has built a name for its uniquely Irish designs – creamy Parian ware, pierced Henshall baskets, emerald green shamrocks – which locals lovingly sent to relatives in America as remembrances of their Celtic homeland. Belleek, in fact, became symbolic of Ireland; influxes of turn-of-the-century emigrants would often carry a piece or two of the ware to their new homes in America to serve as reminders of “the old country”. Belleek’s connection between the U.S. and Ireland has been as strong and hearty as a pint o’ Guinness.
But as expat ties to the mother country waned, as more and more of the country’s young stayed put instead of emigrating to richer pastures, as Ireland’s own economy flourished, and as an older generation of collectors dwindled, it became clear that it was time for a change at Belleek. The factory was approaching its 150th year, and really not much had changed since Queen Victoria’s reign when the pottery was founded by a privileged young man anxious to bring jobs to the region. Belleek was pretty much looking the same as it did in the 1800s. It took a rather bold and resourceful executive and management team to think outside the shamrock-laced box to reinvent an enterprise on the brink of its sesquicentennial.

Enter Belleek Living. (The new brand, in fact, launched four years ago, but U.S. fanfare has been slow thanks to heretofore lackluster marketing. More on this later.)

It’s a smart concept capitalizing on the unmistakable creamy Parian body for which Belleek is so well-known. Belleek Living, essentially, is the next generation of Belleek, designed to appeal to a younger demographic. And without a doubt, this is not your mother’s, grandmother’s, or, for that matter, your great-grandmother’s Belleek.

Credit goes to John Maguire, Belleek’s longtime managing director, who entered the company as a wunderkind for what was supposed to be a six-week school project. The local lad so enjoyed the company – and they he – that upon completing his university courses in 1987 Maguire joined on at the age of 24 and quickly rose through the ranks; in just three years’ time he was tapped to run the company. Without a hint of braggadocio, the still boyish Maguire proudly exclaims, “I was Ireland’s youngest managing director for a high profile brand.”

Maguire learned the business from the stock room up, years he chalks up as “very grounding,” and which instilled a love for the product and the company. Under his guidance, the factory modernized and turned into one of the country’s most frequented tourist spots. Maguire himself credits Belleek’s owner, George Moore, CEO of the Virginia-based Targus Information, a privately-held information technology enterprise and parent company of Belleek since 1990, with inspiring the turnaround.

Read Moore’s résumé and it’s really no surprise that he’s such an effective rainmaker. The erstwhile Irelander has lived and worked in the U.S. these past two decades and used some of the profits he made selling a rather lucrative software business to buy Belleek. The hands-on investor (“I don’t give a check and then disappear,” Moore affirms) considers Belleek a crown jewel among his holdings. “Belleek was a very attractive investment,” Moore wages, “but it needed help to survive long-term.”