Q&A: Patrick Fuller

Reading Time:

1 min {{readingTime}} mins

Patrick Fuller has been at the helm of the jewellery industry for some 30 years. A charismatic individual who has held every senior influential position in the British jewellery industry going.

He is currently a Guardian of the Birmingham Assay Office, a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company and President of the National Association of Jewellers as well as a Freeman of the City of London.

A former President of the National Association of Goldsmiths; President of Emagold Europe; Director of the British Jewellery and Giftware Federation; President of the British Jewellery and Giftware Federation; Member of the British Hallmarking Council and Chairman of the British Jewellers' Association his credentials are second to none.

Patrick is the co-owner of the WB The Creative Jewellery Group owned by Patrick and his wife Vivian which has been trading successfully for over 65 years and has a turnover of approximately £34 million.

With a background in sales and marketing from the food, paint and wallpaper industry, he joined Weston Beamor in 1979 and started the Domino range in 1983. In 2012 the group took over Gecko, a supplier and design house of fashion and costume jewellery.

WB The Creative Jewellery Group now employs well over 180 staff, has over 5000 customers and sells its designs and product into over twenty different countries.

He answers the Benchpeg Q&A.

What’s your name, and what do you for a living?

PF: My name is Patrick Fuller and I am the co-owner and a director of WB The Creative Jewellery Group which comprises the precious jewellery brand Domino, the casting 3D printing and bespoke manufacturing company Weston Beamor and the silver and fashion jewellery brand Gecko.

How did you come to work in the jewellery industry?

PF: By default. My wife’s father-in-law died unexpectedly young and we both left other careers to take over the running of his casting company Weston Beamor.

How would you describe your work to someone who doesn’t know it?

PF: I’m a sales and marketing person with a real interest in the logistics of the whole process of selling jewellery.

What is your creative process?

PF: I have an intuitive taste for design and an eye for what will sell at retail.

Where do you love to shop?

PF: Jermyn Street in London for clothes and Venice for spectacles.

What is your inspiration?

PF: I identify strongly with retailers and would secretly like to have been one!

What piece of jewellery do you most treasure?

PF: My cufflinks – I have a large collection and particularly love a pair with lime-green enamel and a fire opal centre made by Deakin & Francis.

What piece of jewellery do you most desire?

PF: I don’t desire anything for myself – but if money were no object I would buy a piece of jewellery from Elizabeth Gage or Leo de Vroomen for my wife Vivian.

Is there a seminal book or a favourite read that you have?

PF: Wind in the Willows.

Is there a particular tune, song or soundtrack to your life?

PF: Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

If you could only be remembered for one thing in your working life, what would it be?

PF: I’d like to be remembered for my love of the trade and the personalities within it.

What would be your advice to someone starting out in the industry?

PF: Learn your craft and hone your people skills.

The Benchpeg Proust Q&A

What’s your favourite work of art?
PF: Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.
Who from past or present would you invite to a dinner party for the evening?
PF: Leonardo Di Vinci.
Do you have any pets, if yes, what is their name?
PF: We have two cats – Bubble and Squeak.
What is your most treasured possession?
PF: A Newlyn School painting by Walter Langley that I inherited from my family. It was bought initially by my great grandfather who paid £20 for it in about 1910.
What would you consider a perfect day?
PF: A sunny day’s sailing.
Is there a favourite journey, trip or voyage you hold dear?
PF: A holiday in India’s Golden Triangle which I had nearly forty years ago.
What is your greatest achievement?
PF: Employing people.
What advice would tell your younger self?
PF: Listen.
Can you sum yourself up in one word?
PF: Gregarious.
What motto do you live by?
PF: Live life to the full.