Join Kiki McDonough, a fifth-generation antique jewellery specialist and founder of her namesake brand, as she reflects on transforming the jewellery landscape since 1985. Discover how she embraced a can-do spirit in the '80s to make fine jewellery accessible to all. Kiki shares her journey of normalizing women buying jewellery for themselves and the enduring allure of colored gemstones. Learn about her strategies for designing easy-to-wear pieces that bring daily joy, and her thoughts on resilience and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
From Husband-Bought To Self-Chosen
Kiki recalls that at the start a man would come in and buy jewelry for his wife and later couples began choosing together.
Over time women started coming alone to buy pieces for events like their daughter's wedding, showing a cultural shift.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Late Start, Big Leap
Kiki was 30 when she launched her brand after a friend urged her to sell modern jewellery in Bond Street in 1985.
She initially felt overwhelmed but her then-husband encouraged her to accept the opportunity and she proceeded.
insights INSIGHT
Pricing To Create A New Middle Market
Kiki positioned prices between £95 and £950 to fill a gap between costume and high-end jewellery.
That price ladder matched 1980s cultural change and opened a market for women buying wearable fine jewellery.
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Raised in a family of antique jewellery specialists, Kiki McDonough launched her namesake jewellery brand in 1985 with accessible pricing and pieces women could wear anywhere. Her early crystal-and-bow designs ended up in the V&A, while her growing client list came to include members of the royal family, and her brand has helped normalise women buying jewellery for themselves.
At first, “a man would come in and buy a piece of jewellery for his wife,” she says. Soon the couple arrived together and she would choose. 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 reflect on her resilience through recessions and a pandemic, the enduring appeal of coloured gemstones, and why jewellery’s longevity and the everyday joy it can inspire.
Key Insights:
When McDonough launched in 1985 she set out a clear price ladder that brought fine jewellery into everyday life. “I thought the prices should be under £1,000 … £95 to £950 and that’s where I started.” Her first pencil sketch became a heart crystal design that a Birmingham maker took “a punt” on and they’re now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The moment matched a broader cultural shift. As she puts it, the 1980s had “an atmosphere … full of can-do” and women were “open to wearing something else.”
She helped move jewellery from being gifted to being self purchased, 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 together and she would choose. 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 jewellery outperforms fashion because it carries both longevity and daily joy. Pieces become heirlooms that keep working across generations. “I’ve got lots of women now whose children are wearing the jewellery they bought from me 15 years ago,” she says.
Four decades 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 built slowly and on her own terms. “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 financial discipline needed for success, McDonough learned early. “Look after the pennies because the pounds look after themselves,” she says. Her advice to founders is to start carefully, test products, preserve cash and keep going. “It’s terribly important not to spend the money immediately … pace yourself,” because momentum that lasts beats scale for scale’s sake, she adds. Her last piece of wisdom? A good brand can outlive its founder. “I don’t believe that anyone is indispensable,” she says.
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