John Donald

John Donald (6 December 1928 – 21 September 2023) was a British jeweller and designer whose work was strongly identified in the 1960s and 1970s in London. Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother purchased works by John Donald in the 1960s, having been introduced to him by Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. Examples of Donald's work are held in the collections of Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; and the collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. An elegant revolutionary In his half-century as a working jeweller John Donald has been feted as an idealist, a pioneering designer, and as a craftsman. Part of a select group who revolutionised jewellery design in the early 1960s, he went on to establish a successful business and an international reputation. His work captures the late twentieth century ideals of glamour and modernity. Born on 6 December, 1928 to a golfing father and a socially ambitious mother, John Donald attended art college as a compromise between sport and university. He studied graphic design at Farnham, and in 1952 he was offered the chance to enrol in the Metalwork Department of the Royal College of Art. This change of direction was essentially a pragmatic one, as the young man was keen to experience London. But he soon discovered an affinity for working with metal that would shape the rest of his life.