Specialties

• Teacher in the Architecture Department at Tulane University.
• Silversmith
• Designer

1925

• Traveled to Mexico to study Spanish Colonial architecture.
• Made his first visit to Taxco and decided to live there.

1929

• Moved to Mexico.
• Invested it in a house in Taxco, near the silver mining region of Mexico.
• Spratling created a jewelry workshop in Taxco.
• Silver was not the usual jewelry material in Mexico and workers had to be trained.
• Created an apprenticeship system, training many who would later be famous in their own right.
• Used native materials such as amethyst, turquoise and rosewood in his designs.

1935

• Moved to a larger shop to accommodate the large number of tourists coming in on the improved roadways.
• Sold furniture, rugs, wood and tin articles along with his silver jewelry.

1944

• Went to Alaska at the invitation of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Created 200 designs based on Alaskan motifs.
• Trained Alaskans in Taxco and sent them back to train others.

1946

• Spratling y Artisanos had 422 workers.
  • Hundreds of small shops were opened by men trained in Spratling workshops.

1967

• Spratling died.
• Alberto Ulrich purchased the estate and continued to produce jewelry under the name “Sucesores de William Spratling S.A.”
• Spratling was known throughout Mexico as the “Father of Mexican Silver.”