Made in a Mapperley shed: The mask used in the new Fifty Shades film

The first film made nearly £500m at the box office and the sequel is already being tipped to be seen by hundreds of millions of cinema-goers.

And one of its costume pieces is already a film icon – which was made right here in Nottingham.

Mapperley designer Samantha Peach is the creator of the mask worn by actress Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades Darker.

Her masquerade mask business got an unusual order for an address in America, but at first she made no connection to the film.

But later she was formally approached by producers about it being used as a prop and is now surprised and delighted to see her creation given an audience of billions.

The film’s official trailer, featuring the mask, has already been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube since being uploaded on September 13.

But Samantha was at first slightly nervous about her creation appearing in the movie – the series is known for its steamy scenes and the first novel was branded by some readers as ‘mummy porn’.

She said: “I try to make them in an elegant, classy and subtle way – and a I think the film has been done in that way, thank God, so that’s a massive relief as well.

“But I’m just massively proud of how good it looks.”

Samantha makes the masks in an adapted studio shed in her Mapperley garden, selling them online around the world.

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Samantha makes the £10 masks in her garden shed.

The Fifty Shades series was created by English author E.L. James, with the first novel selling more than 125 million copies alone.

The erotic romance stories follow the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey.

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The studio shed where Samantha runs the business is in her Mapperley garden.

It is known for exploring sexual styles involving bondage, dominance and submission and  sadomasochism.

Fifty Shades Darker, starring Johnson as Steele and Jamie Dornan as Grey, is in cinemas next year.

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