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An Interview with Kiki McDonough by Alexandra Papadakis

Our Publishing Director Alexandra Papadakis had the pleasure of visiting Kiki McDonough in her store to talk about her new book Kiki McDonough: A Life of Colour celebrating 40 years of her globally renowned jewellery brand.

In this interview, she shares the unexpected joys of revisiting her career, the inspirations behind her vibrant designs, and the challenges of balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship. Reflecting on four decades of creativity, Kiki offers insights and advice for the next generation of designers.

Watch the short video below to hear Kiki reflect on how the book came to be, just 14 months after their first meeting, before diving into the full interview or read the transcript at its side:

How does it feel, having the book in front of you?

Kiki McDonough: Slightly unreal, but such a lovely thing to have. But I’ve loved it. I’ve loved looking at the pictures. I’ve loved seeing stories of the stones and the glossary and actually looking at my children way back when it started. It’s that terrible word journey, which I absolutely hate, but it has been a journey. Not a holiday, but a journey.

I think at Papadakis Publisher we’ve been living vicariously through the pages, living your life in this way as well. You have been looking back through your early days. What’s your fondest memory from your earlier or earliest days of setting up Kiki McDonough?

Kiki McDonough: I think the fact that I didn’t really know what I was doing, and in some ways, back then, in 1985, it was probably better you didn’t know. I had absolutely no idea that first day when I’d got the blank piece of paper and pencil in front of me.

I’ve actually got very, very happy memories of the last 40 years. Obviously there are ups and downs. I’ve done two recessions, a pandemic, and now we appear to have a bit of a stagnation on our hands, but each thing is different, and I like that. I’m not a great one for doing the same thing all the time. Before doing this, I used to change jobs every year because I got bored. My CV is longer than the Bible! Every day is different. Every week is different. Every year you look back and you’ve achieved something else. It’s a very, very happy life.

Because I’ve enjoyed it so much, I think I do make it sound easier than it’s been. It is hard building a brand and having a family and looking after your team. But I’ve done it quite slowly, and because of that, I think I’ve enjoyed it more than if I’d given myself 10 years to turn myself into an international brand.

In the 1990s chapter, you talked about juggling motherhood alongside your business, all while navigating a recession, which is remarkable. Can you share some important life lessons that you learnt?

Kiki McDonough: I think the key is a grandmother. My mother was amazing. Because when I used to say, “God, I’m tired, so tired, and I have to go to work tomorrow”. She said, “Now listen, calm down, I’ll take the children and I’ll collect them from school”. She was wonderful, and such a great backup at the weekends when I was usually quite tired. But you just sort of go through it. I suppose it’s the only time I thought to myself, “Can I really do this? I’m really just not sure.” But then you get over that, and you just sail on.

I think the key thing if you’re a working mother, is to involve your children in what you do. I would bring my sons William and Edward into the store and I’d show them a couple of necklaces. Then the next week, I’d say, “You know that purple necklace? Well, we sold it, and it was 3000 pounds.” And suddenly they would come alive, and they would understand what I was doing and where the money came from, and all the rest, which I think is incredibly important, because if you can involve your children… There’s a picture in the book of William and Edward sharing the canapés at a party when they were five years old. They were always game for it. And still do, age 30, they still come into the business and come to the parties I give.

That’s wonderful. I think that’s something I can also attest to having enjoyed as well, being involved in a business early on, so much so that I’m now part of the family business. It sounds very familiar to how I grew up, too.

Kiki, you’ve had so many milestone successes throughout your career. Your designs are much loved by the Royal Family, they grace the shelves of Fortnum & Mason and your jewellery is even in the V&A. These are all impressive achievements and a true testament to your credibility as a luxury jewellery designer. What would you say is your biggest brand achievement to date?

Kiki McDonough: Lasting 40 years with no investors, directors or the bank, and having two children who are ambitious and work hard and love their mother. It doesn’t get better than that.

Absolutely. I’m going to go back a little bit and talk about some of your works and your designs and your collection. I imagine it’s hard to choose a favourite collection. Is that one that stands out or that’s particularly meaningful to you? And why?

Kiki McDonough: I love the Apollo collection. I think that is one of my favourites, which we did around six years ago, and that has remained one of my favourite collections. I love it, and I love the special editions, which is where I find the stones and then do one pair of earrings round the stone, as opposed to doing a collection where you can repeat it. And there was a very pretty collection, which we don’t do anymore, really, because we have to keep replacing them called lace, which was after my grandmother, who used to love lace. Some lace pieces are in the book, but you mustn’t get me to look through the book, because then I go, “Oh no, no, it’s actually something else after all”. And the carousel. I love the carousel. And I absolutely love my tiara. Every now and again I go up to the shop and put it on.

The book has been relatively quick in publishing terms to pull together, and has involved a lot of work by Issey and other very key people who brought it all together. What’s been your favourite part of the process of creating the book?

Kiki McDonough: I think one of them is going back through the archives and the pictures of the pieces that I designed all those years ago, some of which I’ve successfully resurrected in the last five years.  I’ve really enjoyed that, watching some of the pieces where people stop buying them because things change, and then they go back again. I suppose it’s like bell bottom trousers or flares, they always come round again. But Issey Spurway, who’s written the book, has done a wonderful job, and she interviewed me along the way and has brought out all sorts of memories in me. It’s been a revelation, really.

And that really comes through in the text as you read it as well. We can really hear your voice resonating throughout. What was your biggest inspiration when it comes to designing your pieces and your collections?

Kiki McDonough: I design, and always have done, with two things. I never look at anybody else’s designs. I think that muddies the waters. If you’re constantly looking at fashion and what everybody else is designing, you don’t stay true to yourself. The second thing is, I design jewellery for my lifestyle. I always have done. I go to parties like everybody else, I collect my children from school, I go to a football match to see either my children playing football or I go to Liverpool football match, which I love. I’m a great supporter of Liverpool Football Club. I also go to the ballet, which I absolutely love. I walk down the street, I go to the supermarket,  I do all the things that everybody else does. It’s really what I feel is going to fit in with that sort of life. And I think that’s really what I based my jewellery on. I’ve got a whole file of designs in the back which were never used because I look at them, and, “I just don’t know if people are going to wear this”. Then they get filed for maybe another time, or don’t get made at all, because I’m not convinced that people are going to wear them.

Do you find that sometimes you look back at your older designs and they start to inform some elements of newer collections?

Kiki McDonough: Yes. There’s two rings that I did, goodness, way, way back in 1995, maybe, and I made one of each in those days. And then I thought, “Well, do you know, I’m going to try them again.” This was about four years ago. “I’m going to try them again to see what happens.” And they’re two of our best selling rings. Everything goes around and comes around.

You mentioned a few months ago your love for the ballet and this, as you can see through some of the pages in the book, is a great inspiration for your designs. What is your favourite ballet performance that you’ve seen, and what influence has that performance had on your design?

Kiki McDonough: The most amazing ballet performance I’ve ever seen was years ago, 1976, I think. I was earning no money at all, and I went to queue up at the box office, you queued outside in the opera house at the box office, to try and get some tickets to see Sleeping Beauty in a couple of months time. When I got to the desk, the man said, “Oh, I’m sorry. We’ve sold out.” And he must have seen my face. I said, “Well, what about two weeks after that?” “No, I’m so sorry. Sold out.” I looked obviously on the verge of tears, because I’d saved up this money to buy this ticket. And he said, “But the person behind you has just returned two tickets to see Fonteyn and Nureyev dance Romeo and Juliet. And it was pretty much the last time she danced. And he said, “Would you like would you like them?” It cost me, literally, I think, two weeks wages. But I went and I just… Although it was a wonderful ballet, it was an occasion as well, because it really was one of the last time she danced. Wonderful. I remember all the flowers that came down from the gods from people sitting up in the gods. And they were hurling flowers onto the stage, and the whole place erupted. Amazing. I wasn’t designing at the time. I can’t remember what I was doing, a secretary somewhere, but this and later ballets have influenced me. Definitely.

In your book, Kiki, we’re taken through some of the striking gems that you use to create your pieces. We’re fascinated to know what your favourite gemstone is and whether that has changed over time.

Kiki McDonough: I love citrine because it looks good on me, so obviously you’re going to like something looks good on you. I love amethyst, and I love peridot. I love that green of peridot. It’s such a difficult green to describe, because it’s not emerald, it’s not olive, it’s the most beautiful stone. Yes, I suppose citrine and peridot and maybe fire opal. I love fire opal. It’s so alive. Faceted stone like that, literally as you move it, it looks on fire. And I think that it’s beautiful. It really lights up your face.

Did you discover different stones at different times?

Kiki McDonough: Absolutely. I gave myself a project, starting in about 2000, that I was going to discover a new stone every year, and actually we ran out of stones about five or six years ago. Well, those that look nice. There are other stones, but they’re not very feminine, and they’re not that pretty, so I wouldn’t really use them.

What advice can you offer to young and aspiring jewellery designers who’ve been inspired by your work?

Kiki McDonough: If you’ve got some talent, if you work hard… It always looks easier than it is, because it’s a joyful product. It fills people with joy, and you’re dealing in beautiful things, but it doesn’t mean to say that it’s going to be easier. I think, looking back and certainly through this book, I realise how hard I have worked. And it is hard work, starting a business and running a business. I think you need talent. Obviously, you need to work hard. You need the discipline. You really do need discipline. I’ve never once in 40 years put a note on my door saying, “Back in five minutes”. You can’t do that. You have to answer. You have to pay your suppliers properly so they stay on side. You have to look after your clients. The list is long, but if you work hard and you are focused and you really love what you do or what you’re selling, then I think you can do it.

Finally, what are your hopes for the future of Kiki McDonough?

Kiki McDonough: Not another recession. Goodness me, I don’t want another one of those. I think I’d like to branch out more into America. We have been in America, and we need to go back and revisit that. It all became quite a lot because we were doing a lot of wholesale around the UK and Northern Ireland and Fortnum & Mason everywhere. So we withdrew a bit from America, but like to step back into that.

I feel I’ve been very lucky. I’ve dealt in beautiful things, I’ve had lovely people working for me, and we’ve all had a great time. If I haven’t made everyone laugh in this business twice a day, that I haven’t done my job properly, because happy people make good business. And I have so much to look forward to this summer with my 40th anniversary in June. There’s lots going on for that. I think probably if you asked me what the future held was getting through that, getting to the end of June in one piece!

If you’ve loved hearing from Kiki about her journey as a pioneering female jewellery designer, you’ll be pleased to hear that Kiki McDonough: A Life of Colour is available for pre-order now.