History

Adventurer, writer, collector, illustrator, architect, designer, entrepreneur and businessman are just a few words that have been used to describe William Spratling, a person who undoubtedly had much to do with Taxco’s transformation from small town to center of design.

Spratling came to Mexico for the first time in 1926 to teach a summer course at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He fell in love with the country and, captivated by Taxco’s beauty and potential, decided to settle in this region of Guerrero in 1929. He moved there with the intention of reviving the area’s silversmith traditions, not through the production of metal or the making of traditional jewelry, but through the lens of modern design.

William Spratling died in 1967 without a will or heir as he was a gay man. As such, his possessions, teachings, and the rights to his silver work passed to the state of Guerrero. A year later, Alberto Ulrich, an Italian collector and great friend of Spratling, managed to recover the designer's estate and its rights in order to build Sucesores de William Spratling, a project intended to spread and continue the legacy of this outstanding designer.

Granted in 2012 by Albert Ulrich’s family to the Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City, an exhibition aimed to show the trajectory of Spratling’s vision for design as a tool of not only aesthetics, but also of social transformation. In 2015, the collection was brought to Washington DC to be exhibited at the Mexican Cultural Institute. Link to Mexican Government Publication

Alberto Ulrich's daughter Consuelo has revitalized his original workshop (taller in Spanish) in Taxco to make the official authentic Spratling pieces, all his designs. The direct lineage of Spratling is kept alive and the brand lives on. All pieces are .950 silver unless otherwise noted.