Laurence Graff#Personal life
{{EngvarB|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{short description|English billionaire jeweler}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Laurence Graff
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|size=100%}}
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1938|06|13}}
| birth_place = Stepney, London, UK
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Businessman and jeweller
| years_active = 1953–present
| spouse = Anne-Marie Graff (divorced)
| children = 5
}}
Laurence Graff {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born 13 June 1938) is an English jeweller and billionaire businessman, best known as the founder of Graff Diamonds, supplier of jewellery and jewels.
Early life
Graff was born in Stepney in 1938 into a Jewish family, the son of a Romanian mother, Rebecca Segal, and a Russian father, Harry Graff.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0813/084.html|title=King of Bling: Laurence Graff |work=forbes.com |date= 13 August 2007|accessdate=11 March 2008 |first=Susan |last=Adams}}{{cite web |url=http://www.leadershiponline.co.za/articles/environment/311-the-multifaceted-laurence-graff- |title=The multifaceted Laurence Graff |date= |accessdate=23 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091108121143/http://www.leadershiponline.co.za/articles/environment/311-the-multifaceted-laurence-graff- |archive-date=8 November 2009 |url-status=dead }}[http://www.zf.ro/business-international/un-bijutier-de-origine-romana-si-a-construit-un-imperiu-al-pietrelor-pretioase-in-2015-el-a-uimit-lumea-cu-bijuteriile-sale-scumpe-14932631 Un bijutier de origine română şi-a construit un imperiu al pietrelor preţioase. În 2015 el a uimit lumea cu bijuteriile sale scumpe], 31 December 2015, Alina-Elena Vasiliu, Ziarul financiar, Retrieved at 30 December 2016 His brother Raymond was born in 1947.{{cn|date=February 2022}}
Career
Encouraging her son to learn a trade, Graff's mother enrolled him onto a jewellery manufacturing workshop in London,{{Cite web |date=2008-11-24 |title=Laurence Graff |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/laurence-graff |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}} and he left school at 14 to become an apprentice.{{Cite web |title=Forbes profile: Laurence Graff & family |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/laurence-graff/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Forbes |language=en}} He soon went into partnership with Schindler, a jeweller, repairing rings and creating small pieces of jewellery in a small shop. That shop went out of business and so Graff began selling his jewellery designs independently to jewellers all over England. By 1962, he had two jewellery shops, including his first in Hatton Garden.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}
In 1960, he founded the Graff Diamonds company. In 1966 he commissioned the English jewellery-designer Robert Thomas to design a diamond jewel to enter into the De Beers Diamond International Awards competition. The ribbon bracelet he created won the competition. By 1974, he had begun specialising in selling to newly rich buyers from the Middle East. In particular, he supplied many jewels for Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, who became a lifelong client and friend. One day, Prince Turki II bin Abdulaziz Al Saud walked into the shop and bought everything including a 14 carat diamond.{{citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/style/21iht-web-1121-luxgraff.8421993.html |work=The New York Times |title=Laurence Graff, chairman, Graff |date=8 February 2010 }} Graff has expanded his company, with over 35 shops in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
Graff was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the jewellery industry.{{London Gazette|issue=60534|supp=y|page=11|date=15 June 2013}}
According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2020, Graff and his son Francois had a combined personal net worth of £3.785 billion.{{Cite news|title=Rich List 2020: profiles 21-50, featuring Salma Hayek and Sir Richard Branson|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/rich-list-2020-profiles-21-50-featuring-featuring-salma-hayek-and-richard-branson-6lwszfp6j|access-date=2020-07-13|issn=0140-0460}}
=Re-cut of the Wittelsbach Diamond=
File:Wittelsbach diamond, before beeing recut by Graff.png
In 2008, Graff purchased the Wittelsbach Diamond for £16.4 million, a considerable premium over the £9 million guide price.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604153906/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5101394.ece "Bavaria considers bid to bring mysterious Wittelsbach diamond home"]. The Times, 7 November 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2010 Almost two years later, Graff revealed he had had three diamond cutters repolish the stone to eliminate the chips and improve the clarity, reducing the diamond from {{convert|35.52|carat|g}} to {{convert|31|carat|g}}. This action has been compared by critics to making the Mona Lisa prettier.Emma Jacobs. (25 January 2010). [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3a24ae8-0951-11df-ba88-00144feabdc0.html "A diamond geezer made good"]. Financial Times. Retrieved 25 January 2010. However, according to gemologist Richard W. Wise, "At a cost of only 4.45 carats the recut and renamed Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond has been raised from a GIA grade of Fancy Deep Grayish Blue to a Fancy Deep Blue. Its clarity grade has been likewise elevated from VS2 to Internally Flawless (IF). This is a substantial upgrade." Further, the "Graff recut retained the original double stellate brilliant facet pattern thus retaining the overall look of the original stone."{{cite web |url=http://rwwise.com/blog/?p=397 |title=The Wittelsbach; All tarted up and ready to sell |publisher=Rwwise.com}}
Personal life
In 1962, Graff married Anne-Marie, who is French. They later{{when|date=February 2022}} divorced and his ex-wife is now credited as Anne-Marie Graff Ali. Together they had three children, two sons and a daughter (François Xavier, Kristelle and Stephane). His son, Francois Xavier Graff is the chief executive of the family business.{{Cite web|title=Laurence Graff|url=https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/laurence-graff/|date=2018-03-18|website=Alain Elkann Interviews|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-12}}
Graff holds a 60% stake in the business through Graff Diamonds Corp., a Cayman Islands-based holding company.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/laurence-graff/|title=Bloomberg Billionaires Index|work=bloomberg.com|date=2020|access-date=22 June 2022}} The remainder is held in the name of his ex-wife, Anne-Marie. Graff is credited with her stake because he controls the company's operational and strategic decisions and founded the company.
Graff has five children, and lives in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Graff is an art collector, his earlier interest was paintings of impressionism, and later contemporary art. Graff purchased Andy Warhol’s '
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.graff.com Graff]
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Category:20th-century English businesspeople
Category:21st-century English businesspeople
Category:English people of Romanian-Jewish descent