In conversation... Kenny Harmel, GW

As Galileo Watermark reaches its 40 year anniversary, we talk to Kenny Harmel, director, about celebrating success and keeping positive

Watermark was born just a little before I was born – 40 years ago! It was founded in 1980, and in 1985, we began our work in the airline industry with Virgin Atlantic as our first customer.

Throughout the years the company has had a number of changes and rebrands. Notably in 2002 upon acquiring Update International, which expanded our category base and enabled us to enter the meal serviceware market as well as amenities, and also in 2004 when we joined forces with Air Fayre.

Becoming Gaileo Watermark

Fast forward to 2016 and Galileo Watermark was formed when Galileo Products acquired Watermark. The newly merged team integrated the years of experience and comprehensive portfolio of Watermark and the fresh, design-led approach of Galileo.

The last four years have shown what an agile business we are having successfully integrated the teams and winning business from new clients.

If I were to highlight a key recent project I would say our Virgin Atlantic kit programme was very special. Sustainability has always been a key focus for us and we were the first supplier to put rPET in the skies back in 2012 with Cathay Pacific. It was hugely rewarding to be involved in a project that took things one step further, really scrutinising every element of the kit to choose reusable and sustainable contents throughout.

Keeping positive

Inevitably we aren’t surrounded with the best news at the moment, but as a result it felt even more important to celebrate and mark our 40th anniversary. We don’t want to let the current climate dampen our spirits or detract from our achievements. We are proud to continue to be a part of the Watermark legacy and whilst the business has of course changed in size throughout the years, we feel there is a lot to be grateful for.

December also marks four years since we became Galileo Watermark and the business has transformed in this time. We had steadily gained momentum and secured some exciting projects and whilst we haven’t been able to share them all this year, we know that we will.

As an industry where incubation periods for some projects can be up to two years, we’re a patient bunch so we aren’t disheartened. This year has taught us a lot but above all we know the love of travel remains. We need to improve, and find better, more sustainable ways of working but collectively there is the shared ambition to find a way through this and where there is a will there is a way. •