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Background:
Raised in a household of vintage jewelry specialists, Kiki McDonough launched her namesake jewelry model in 1985 with accessible pricing and items girls may put on anyplace. Her early crystal-and-bow designs ended up within the V&A, whereas her rising shopper record got here to incorporate members of the royal household, and her model has helped normalise girls shopping for jewelry for themselves.
At first, “a man would come in and buy a piece of jewellery for his wife,” she says. Soon the couple arrived collectively and she would select. Today, the behaviour is normalised. “Now it’s just, ‘I need a pair of earrings for my daughter’s wedding’… I think it’s all changed.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, McDonough joins BoF’s founder and CEO Imran Amed, to mirror on her resilience via recessions and a pandemic, the enduring attraction of colored gems, and why jewelry’s longevity and the on a regular basis pleasure it will possibly encourage.
Key Insights:
- When McDonough launched in 1985 she set out a transparent worth ladder that introduced tremendous jewelry into on a regular basis life. “I thought the prices should be under £1,000 … £95 to £950 and that’s where I started.” Her first pencil sketch turned a coronary heart crystal design {that a} Birmingham maker took “a punt” on and they’re now within the Victoria and Albert Museum. The second matched a broader cultural shift. As she places it, the Eighties had “an atmosphere … full of can-do” and girls have been “open to wearing something else.”
- She helped transfer jewelry from being gifted to being self bought, a shift accelerated by social change and London’s Big Bang. At first, “a man would come in and buy a piece of jewellery for his wife,” she says. Soon the couple arrived collectively and she would select. Today, the behaviour is normalised. “Now it’s just, ‘I need a pair of earrings for my daughter’s wedding’… I think it’s all changed.”
- McDonough says jewelry outperforms vogue as a result of it carries each longevity and each day pleasure. Pieces grow to be heirlooms that hold working throughout generations. “I’ve got lots of women now whose children are wearing the jewellery they bought from me 15 years ago,” she says.
- Four a long time in, resilience and pacing have been McDonough’s strengths. “I’ve [been through] two recessions, a pandemic and 10 prime ministers,” she says, crediting “resilience, a sense of humour and common sense.” She constructed slowly and on her personal phrases. “People used to say to me how many shops have you got and I’d say, ‘I’ve got one shop and two children.’”
- The monetary self-discipline wanted for achievement, McDonough discovered early. “Look after the pennies because the pounds look after themselves,” she says. Her recommendation to founders is to start out fastidiously, take a look at merchandise, protect money and hold going. “It’s terribly important not to spend the money immediately … pace yourself,” as a result of momentum that lasts beats scale for scale’s sake, she provides. Her final piece of knowledge? A very good model can outlive its founder. “I don’t believe that anyone is indispensable,” she says.