A King's Baton made from discarded plastic will carry a powerful environmental message into this week's opening ceremony in Glasgow. Cornish artist Bonnie Steward designed Team England's baton from rubbish collected on beaches, riverbanks and in towns, aiming to highlight the growing threat of ocean plastic.
Baton's design and materials
The 27-year-old, from Crowntown near Helston, transformed crisp packets, pieces of fishing rope, fragments of tennis balls and other discarded waste into colourful mosaics depicting England's best-known landmarks and landscapes. Tower Bridge and the Angel of the North feature alongside coastal views inspired by her Cornish home, with every piece of plastic collected from the places represented in the design.
Steward said: "Literally every single piece, a crisp packet, a part of a tennis ball or a piece of fishing rope, everything you see, I've collected. On the King's Baton, there are pieces from the Thames foreshore, from our own shores and urban areas."
Artist's inspiration
Steward, who founded her BISH ART business in Cornwall, began collecting plastic after becoming increasingly alarmed by the amount of rubbish washing ashore near her home. She said: "Growing up on the Cornish coastline, I became increasingly saddened by how much plastic was being washed ashore. I started collecting it because I couldn't ignore it, and I quickly became obsessed with beach cleaning."
Her artwork is designed to resemble a painting from a distance, before revealing the individual pieces of waste when viewed up close. Steward added: "What I like about creating my work is that when people view it, they think it's a painting at first glance. But the closer they look, they notice all the elements. It's almost like a puzzle."
Significance of the baton
For the first time, each Commonwealth nation received its own baton to personalise ahead of Glasgow 2026. Steward said working on such a small scale presented a new challenge, but she was determined to create something that represented the whole country. She said: "I've never worked at such a small size before, so every detail had to count. What mattered most was creating something people could connect with, something familiar and an artwork that was reflective of England as a whole. As an artist, you rarely imagine your work being carried by athletes across the nation, so to see the Baton out in the world is surreal."
Her striking artwork will be showcased before King Charles and Queen Camilla at the opening ceremony inside Glasgow's OVO Hydro. Steward said: "I hope people understand that ocean plastic is not just a beach issue."
