Laurence Graff built his diamond fortune from an apprenticeship in London's Hatton Garden, starting his first jewelry business as a teenager and developing Graff into an international luxury house. [1][2]
He started at a jeweler's bench rather than with a family company
Graff began working at age fifteen as an apprentice in Hatton Garden after leaving school young. Graff's own company history says his early duties included basic workshop work and classes, and that he was initially told he would not make the grade as a jeweler. [1]
Instead of leaving the trade, he moved into business for himself. The company history says Graff formed his first partnership at eighteen, repairing Victorian jewelry, and learned to sell distinctive pieces by experimenting with designs and persuading dealers to extend him stones. [1]
Graff established the business that became Graff Diamonds in 1960 while still in his early twenties. Forbes likewise describes him as a self-taught gemologist who founded his namesake jewelry house at twenty-two after beginning as a Hatton Garden apprentice. [2][1]
A small jewelry operation became a global luxury house
The company opened London retail boutiques and later expanded internationally, while Graff became known for sourcing, cutting, and selling exceptional diamonds. That combination of retail branding, gem expertise, and control over important stones created the economic engine behind the fortune. [1][2]
The documented starting point is unusually modest for a billionaire founder: Graff entered the trade as a teenage apprentice, built a small repair partnership, and then created the company carrying his name. The fortune is therefore tied overwhelmingly to a business he built during his own career. [1]
Sources for background
Sources reviewed Oct 12, 2026.
- Beginnings · Graff
- The Story Of Laurence Graff In A New Book · Forbes · Nov 4, 2015
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