Graff
The entrepreneurial Laurence Graff OBE began his stratospheric career at 15 as a lowly apprentice in Hatton Garden, London’s East End jewellery district. At only 18 years old Laurence launched his first company, working with an older skilled jeweller to repair Victorian jewellery.
Mr Graff is unafraid of risk to create something beautiful. His first big success came when he persuaded a diamond dealer to advance him 33 diamonds for £60. Instead of turning the 33 stones into 33 individual rings, Graff mounted all 33 stones into one ring. Having put all of his eggs in one metaphorical basket, the risk paid off. He swiftly sold the ring to a dealer in the north of England. Before Graff returned to London from this sale, he received a phone call ordering another ring: the first had just been sold.
Global Empire
In 1960 Mr Graff launched Graff Diamonds. Two years later he opened his first shops in London. Graff establishes his presence abroad tentatively with a series of international fairs and shows. Today Laurence Graff is the owner of a global empire. Fuelled by Graff’s inexhaustible passion for exquisite diamonds, the vertically integrated company designs, manufactures and distributes fine jewellery in spacious luxury retail spaces. Although his first international boutique, located in the sumptuous Hotel de Paris in Monaco, was not opened until 2000. Over the next decade, Graff has established over 50 stores world wide.
Graff functions under the Kimberly process, never knowingly buying or selling diamonds from regions that would engender human suffering or conflict. In 2013 Mr Graff was awarded an Order of the British Empire. He admits: “I have always been fascinated with diamonds. I remember looking at them, studying them closely to understand their purity and the way they had been cut. It is an inherent feeling that has turning into a lifelong passion… I truly believe that working with diamonds is what I was born to do”.
Synonym of Luxury
Graff has become synonymous with luxury. The company’s glittering advertising campaigns are dripping with glamour and of course diamonds. The focus of any Graff design is to showcase the brilliance of the stones.
Embrace of Excess
Laurence Graff explains his creative process: “I though of other ways to create unique rings that everyone would want.” Graff’s originality lies in his unabashed embrace of excess. Graff embodies the maxim, ‘more is indeed more’. As he describes one of his earliest designs: “I took one diamond and placed 6 stones around it then 12 stones around that to create a 19 cluster.”
Timeless Elegance
Graff’s designs have a timeless elegance inbuilt. To the untutored eye, a pair of Graff chandelier earrings could have been produced in the opulence of 18th century Versailles. Yet, Mr Graff has an astute finger on the pulse of the modern, which lifts his classical approach from being antiquated imitation.
Twombly Collection
In 2018 Graff launched a collection inspired the vivacious squiggles and curvaceous scribbles of contemporary artist, Cy Twombly. Graff’s ‘Twombly Collection’ translates the spontaneity of a brush stroke into painstakingly assembled swirling pave earrings, finished with large diamond pear drops. Of the collection Mr Graff noted proudly: “It was a challenge to capture the essence of these works. But we are diamond artists and our experience, combined with an unrivalled inventory of stones, ensure our designers and master craftsmen have the freedom to experiment”.