(Part of the Digital:Works Archive)

Administrative/Biographical History

Hatton Garden is a street and commercial area in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, close to the boundary with the City of London. Hatton Garden is famous as London's jewellery quarter and the centre of diamond trade in the United Kingdom. This specialisation grew up in the early 19th century, spreading out from its more ancient centre in nearby Clerkenwell.

Today there are nearly 300 businesses here in the jewellery industry and over 55 shops, representing the largest cluster of jewellery retailers in the UK. The largest of these businesses was De Beers, the international family of companies which dominated the international diamond trade. Their headquarters were in an office and warehouse complex just behind the main Hatton Garden shopping street. In 1962 Lawrence Graff of Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond fame opened his first retail jewellery store here.

Scope and Content

Eighteen interviews regarding working in, and the history of, Hatton Garden and the jewellery trade. Taken from the film "Lappings, Lemel & Sweeps: stories from Hatton Garden", created by jewellery students from across London and Digital:Works, (2013).

Quantity

18 mp3 files

More information on Digital;Works and their projects can be found at: digital-works.co.uk.