A London-founded diamond jeweller, started in 1960 by Laurence Graff, that designs, makes and sells jewellery and watches from boutiques including Bond Street and Sloane Street.
Graff is a luxury jeweller known for large and rare diamonds and coloured stones. It designs, makes and sells jewellery and watches, and describes itself as vertically integrated, which means it handles several steps from stone to shop. Wikipedia lists famous diamonds that have passed through the house, such as the Windsor Yellows, the Wittelsbach-Graff and the Graff Pink. From 2010 to 2013 it also launched four in-house watch movements. It has more than 70 boutiques worldwide, according to its own history page.
Laurence Graff started at 15 as an apprentice at a Hatton Garden workbench, cleaning floors and flattening metal and attending day-release classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. When his mother asked how far he could go, the owner replied that "the sky's the limit". He co-founded a repair business at 18, then founded Graff Diamonds in 1960 and opened two London boutiques two years later. The company says it is a family business, that its pieces will "last forever", and that it loves its jewels "like we love our children".
Graff is headquartered in London, and Wikipedia gives the UK shops as New Bond Street and Sloane Street. Its roots are in Hatton Garden, the jewellery quarter where Mr Graff trained. It also has offices in New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and its first shop outside the UK opened in Monaco in 2000. Wikipedia puts the staff at about 500, but gives no UK breakdown. It was the first jeweller to receive the Queen's Award for Industry and Export, in 1973, and has won five Queen's Awards in all.
On culture, Graff's own account is of a family firm: clients "become part of our family", and Mr Graff's son Francois is inheriting those relationships. The company supports FACET, a group helping children in Africa, through its book, and states that it follows the Kimberley Process, the system designed to keep conflict diamonds out of trade. These are statements from the company and Wikipedia, and we have not checked day-to-day working conditions.
A house like this employs gem specialists who judge colour and cut, designers, goldsmiths and setters, watch specialists, boutique client advisers, security and logistics staff, marketing and events teams, and finance and legal staff. Mr Graff's own path from apprentice to founder is part of the brand story, and it shows that skilled craft jobs can be a route to running a business.
Website: www.graff.com
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE