Family History



	Family History
	Graham Watling worked as a designer and craftsman in gold and silver for over thirty years, and established the business in Lacock with his wife Jean in 1972.
		They originally set up a workshop by the invitation of the National Trust and later moved into larger premises in Lacock, which they converted to provide larger workshops and showrooms, then known as Lacock Gallery.
	Graham Watling was registered as a gold and silversmith at the Assay Office of London Gold and Silversmiths Company. His work was exhibited by the Craft Council of Great Britain, at the Craft Centre, London, the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool and many exhibitions abroad, including world fairs at Montreal and Tokyo. He worked in partnership with his wife, Jean who ran the showrooms. They prided themselves with very individual personal service.
	After setting up their business Graham and Jean soon realized that their children Jane and John both wanted to follow in their fathers footsteps and become jewellers. At of 8 or 9 both children would help dad in the workshop, rather than doing the washing up or mowing the lawn! This developed into a fascination that stayed with them for the rest of their lives and having both trained as jewellers in their own right they now all have their own separate hallmarks, to go with their own individual styles.
	Jean would then set about selling and promoting the work of her family both at the gallery in Lacock and at the various exhibitions around the world. She had an amazing 'joie de vivre' coupled with unlimited resources of energy that helped drive her family to great success.
	Graham & Jean Watling introduce their young daughter Jane to His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at an exhibition of Graham's work at the Craft Centre of Great Britain prior to the Montreal World Fair in 1969. Jane is only 6 years old but has already made up her mind that she will be a jeweller one day.
	His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent receives a pair of hand made sterling silver candle sticks made by Graham Watling in 1982. The candle sticks were commissioned and presented by Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd.