The Boss ‘ in the car and have a look at the turn of the figures living conditions. This week, the spoke to London’s goldsmith Grant MacDonald .
40 years ago, when Grant was leaving a royal palace in the Middle East, he happily said that ‘his feet were not resting on the ground’.
Grant received an order from the royal family that changed the course of his business. Four decades later, when he remembers the incident, his tears stand.
They say, “The feelings of the moment are unimaginable.” I’m telling you that your sense of accomplishment was fantastic. ‘
Grant McDonald is a jeweler who started his business in the sixties. In the seventies when the UK economy was in a downward trend, Grant started looking at foreign countries, especially the Middle East, to keep his business alive.
He began receiving some orders in 1979 from a royal family in a Middle Eastern country. They want to keep this country’s name secret.
When he was on a tour of the Middle East in connection with his business a few years later, he was asked if he would like to see the gift that the royal family gives to his guests, and they immediately accepted the invitation. The gift was a sword engraved with gold and diamonds.
Grant says that when he saw that sword, he formally praised it but was not impressed with its quality. Grant McDonald’s offered the chance that he might make a better sword.
When he returned to the hotel, he designed a paper on which he received an order to make a sword from the royal family. But the problem was the cost of the sword that led to their entire business being at stake.
Grant McDonald’s determination was firm. Grant gambled on it and bought as much gold, diamonds and strength as he needed to produce the order and put his team on the sword.
The Middle East royal family liked this sword worth 50,000 pounds (current one hundred 90 thousand pounds) and got orders for fifteen more swords.
He says that his artisans, using all their abilities, created the first sword, and as a result, the new order he received changed his fate and his company reached another level.
Today the ‘Grant London’ company has annual revenue of several million pounds, but they still get more business from the Middle East. Grant McDonald has spent the past thirty years touring the Middle East every month. “The Middle East is great for our business,” he says.
The business has a warrant from Prince of Wales who has purchased such rare items in the past.
Who is Grant Macdonald?
Grant McDonald was born and raised in north London. His father was a doctor by profession. He says he became interested in gold and other valuables when he was just fourteen years old. He explains that one of his father’s patients taught him how to prepare silver spoons.
He says he had set up a workshop in his father’s hospital basement. He used to say, ‘When Dad wanted me to stop hammering in my workshop, he would step on the floor, which was a sign for me to stop hammering’.
After studying at the London School of Art for five years, Grant McDonald started work in a jewelry shop where he used to repair rings. After some time he started getting private orders and then in the sixties he founded a company called . In 1971 he changed his company’s name to ‘Grant London’.
Grant MacDonald’s passion for gold was evident in his youth
McDonald’s Company today has eighteen employees, taking orders from 200 dollars ” to two and a half million pounds. They also receive several orders that take months to complete.
Grant McDonald’s company now uses printing and design technology, but he says there is no substitute for human skills.
“Today we rely on a lot of technology, but without humans, this workshop is nothing but a pile of machines.”
The Gold Smiths Center is a charitable organization where trained thousands of jewelers and jewelers. Peter Smith, director of the Gold Smiths Center, says the grant counts as one of the better and designers of the current generation.
He says that Grant is a well-known name in his industry and his business runs successfully in and out of the country.
Grant MacDonald now entrusts his business to his son George
Grant McDonald is 70 years old and his business is now entering a new phase. He is now handing over his business to his son George, who has been working in the company for the past sixteen years. George was working as a graphic designer and photographer before starting work at Grant MacDonald London.
Grant says that having a son involved in the business has made him very confident that his business will continue. He says the idea of selling a business after spending so much time working and raising it all his life is very painful.
Grant McDonald has not yet left the business completely and works three days a week in the company office. He has also set up a workshop in the house where he intends to pass on this skill to the next generation. Teaching your grandchildren the skills of making a silver spoon is one of the grants they plan to work on.
