A Cut Above

Diamonds are always something a bit special. They are given and received with a warmness of heart and a sense of delight. It’s a beautiful business to be in. Eoin McDonnell shared a passion for jewellery, particularly diamonds, with his father. 

As a student of business and economics at Trinity college during the early nineties, Eoin and his father put their heads together as to how they could best continue their jewellery manufacturing business, and what has emerged is truly brilliant.

Since graduating in 1994, Eoin has run Precious Diamonds single-handedly. His relentless pursuit of top quality stones and stone cutters has taken him all over the world, and he takes pride in having gained exclusive supply in Ireland from two of the best diamond cutters in the world.  The quality of craftsmanship in the jewellery business is crucial to the value of the finished product, the experience and skill of the cutter is reflected in each facet of a Diamond.

The technology involved in getting the perfect cut for each stone has evolved enormously over the past decade or so, with laser cutters and high magnification tools offering phenomenal precision, and in the right hands diamonds become an expression of near perfection.

Eoin is clear in his mind as to what exactly he brings to the market place. “I’m not like your average high street jeweller – I don’t sell silver bracelets and gold earrings – we’re not a place with a counter.

“Diamonds are all about catching the eye – it’s often difficult to really appreciate the stones individuality when you see them in a finished piece.  But with us it’s a one-on-one experience: clients are invited in to look at loose diamonds and we explain the characteristics that make each diamond special. They can see what a stone might look like on their finger.  And they’re dealing directly with the specialist who will design and create their piece.

“We tend to get pretty savvy clients who will know that they don’t have to settle for finished pieces in a jewellery shop.  They come to our premises here on College Green and they’re not surrounded by other people and they’re not dealing with a sales assistant.  It takes a lot of the pressure off.

“When a client leaves with a ring they know it’s unique to them.  What’s great for us is we get a lot of our business from word of mouth - someone will leave us and within a couple of weeks we’ll have had three phone calls from their friends booking an appointment.  We also tend to get great repeat business.

“We create all the classic settings, and offer top quality design, which really makes the piece so special for each client.”

Dublin City Enterprise Board were a great help to Eoin in establishing the strengths of his business, and following the passing away of his father not long after he left college, he greatly appreciated the objectivity and experience they offered.

“One thing that surprised me with DCEB is how approachable they are.  Greg Swift the C.E.O. is very pro-active, very pro-business and willing to help. Miriam Ahern, who runs the LINK! network, is fantastic.  Their idea with LINK! is to help young businesses grow.  They have monthly events for people who have just started out or are just about to.  There’s a speaker who will give a talk on their area of expertise, but what’s really fantastic is there’s a huge amount of networking.  You get talking to people and find that they had this issue or that in their business, and you can exchange stories and solutions.  One of the greatest things about DCEB is bringing small businesses together.  I’ve met some absolutely amazing companies that I can ring up and say ‘what was your experience here’.  It’s great.

Another brilliant thing Eibhlin Curley, Assistant CEO in DCEB did recently was a fashion round-table event, where they brought in a group of young designers and people from Enterprise Ireland, from DCEB, and mentors from the industry.  They asked us what was needed in order to move our businesses forward.  It’s was excellent.

“I also did DCEB’s Tech Check, so Brian Honan came in and ran the rule over our technology. He sat down and said the purpose of the exercise was to see how computers would help us do business. He highlighted things down the road for us like data sharing and back-up, remote access to our systems and so on. You really don’t have time to think too hard about these things as your running with your business. He analysed a number of areas he’d dealt with and gave us recommendations, so I found that really useful.”

Eoin is currently designing a new Diamond collection which he’ll pitch at the international market.  He knows the quality he can bring to market will be in demand, and is glad to know that should he need assistance with the export drive from DCEB, he will be pushing an open door.

FOOTNOTE:  Eoin McDonnell also runs a number of Diamond Nights, where groups can come along to learn about diamonds and what they should look for when making their purchase.

Precious, 16 College Green, Dublin 2
For appointments call 617 7974 
Email: Diamonds@Precious.ie    www.Precious.ie

© 2008 Dublin City Enterprise Board. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without the permission from the D.C.E.B.

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