Jennifer Sieg meets Kiki McDonough to chat through nearly four decades of her award-winning fine jewellery business
Entrepreneur Kiki McDonough can still remember the day she made her first ever pair of earrings, which now sit on display at the V&A Museum some 40 years later.
The fifth-generation jeweller was just 31 years old when her friend had first approached her to help design antique jewellery at his Bond Street storefront.
Soon uncovering a hidden talent, she went on to found her own fine jewellery brand in 1985, named after herself, which she has bootstrapped for nearly 40 years and counting.
“I’d never done anything like that before in my life, and I was perfectly certain I couldn’t do it… [but] he saw something in me that I certainly didn’t,” McDonough, now 70, says.
The Kiki McDonough brand is known for its rather colourful gemstones and designs, having been worn by many members of the British Royal family, including Princess Diana, Kate Middleton, and Queen Camilla.
It has gone from strength to strength over the years, McDonough says, powering through four decades of technological change, international expansion, three recessions and a pandemic.
Its flagship store is situated on Sloane Street, but its products are sold across a range of UK partner brands, including Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Watches of Switzerland Group.
Now, with a team of 21 and a growing international presence, McDonough reflects back on what helped her position her brand to represent British luxury at a global scale.
Finding your calling
McDonough might have been raised in a jewellery-crafting household, but she never anticipated becoming a jewellery crafter herself: “Women didn’t sell jewellery in those days.”
Her father owned a Georgian jewellery business, but instead of taking over the family legacy at first, she went on to kickstart her career in the fashion department at Vogue.
It wasn’t long before McDonough found herself giving into a “why not” attitude to take up her friend’s jewellery-making offer, and it was an opportunity she now says she wouldn’t trade for the world.
I started on my first day with a blank piece of paper and a pencil, feeling rather foolish, I have to say.
“I started on my first day with a blank piece of paper and a pencil, feeling rather foolish, I have to say,” she says, with a laugh.
“[Now] I absolutely love it, and count myself incredibly lucky to have a career that’s just involved beautiful things for 40 years.”
McDonough recalls the day she first realised the brand’s potential, which was when the Duchess of York was spotted on the front page of papers wearing a pair of her earrings in 1987.
At the time, the power of word of mouth marketing and the press were really all a start-up could ask for – social media was barely just a thought.
“It was a seminal moment in my life… I couldn’t quite believe that a pair of my earrings were on the front page of a newspaper,” she says.
Orders really kicked off once Princess Diana was spotted wearing her jewellery in 1991, of course, with the help of social media pushing the news far and wide.
McDonough can still remember the order notifications coming in from around the world overnight: “I thought that we’d been scammed.. I think we had one pair of those earrings in stock.”
Four decades of technological change and consumer trends
After bootstrapping a fine jewellery business on her own for 40 years and counting, you could say McDonough has noticed some rather interesting consumer trends.
The biggest, she says, is the change in consumer behaviour among women. Despite economically challenging times, women are now more than ever willing to spend their money on themselves, if the product is right.
When I started the business in 1985 women never bought fine jewellery for themselves, and over the years that has changed.
“When I started the business in 1985 women never bought fine jewellery for themselves, and over the years that has changed,” she says.
“Women now earn more and they have become more interested in what they are wearing, looking for investment pieces that make them feel stylish and empowered.”
McDonough, who – rather ironically – says she doesn’t “follow fashion” trends, is confident that her key to success is to focus on making a good product that will stay a good product.
“I like designing jewellery that I think is pretty [and] that I think women are going to enjoy wearing and to be happy spending some money on… selling jewellery that’s going to be out of fashion in six months is not my thing,” she adds.
With the rise of online shopping, particularly through the pandemic, McDonough is still confident that the high street is still ticking.
“In store [shopping] is still the big buy, the one that people like most,” she says.
“After the pandemic, it was still a little bit online, but then it gradually came back to the store, because it’s fun – I don’t think online shopping is going to be the final destination of shopping.”
Above all else…
Without surprise, the businesswoman is quick to pinpoint that building a successful business on her own, while also raising a family of two, has been her greatest achievement so far.
“I’ve built this brand, this now international brand, single handedly on my own with no directors and no bank, and to me, that is my greatest achievement,” she says.
“I’m sure people would say I should be proud of other things, but really that’s the thing I’m most proud of.”
CV
Name: Kiki McDonough
Company: Kiki McDonough
Founded: June 1985
Staff: 21
Title: Founder and Creative Director
Age: 70
Born: London
Lives: South London
Studied: Queensgate
Talents: Designing, running a business, creative. Active fundraiser and mentor
Motto: Nothing is as bad as it looks. Always make sure you laugh
Most known for: For her sense of humour
First ambition: My favourite game when I was a child was playing shops, so it was one day to own a shop
Favourite book: Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne de Maurier – about love, independence and freedom
Best piece of advice: My Father said ‘Look after the pennies because the pounds will look after themselves’