The King of Jewellery, Looknauth Persaud, is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 07, 2018 Peeping Tom

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 “I may have dropped out of school, but today I would go to lectures with lawyers and doctors and be recognised as a jeweller. It is not always where you start in life, but what you make of life.”

By Gordon French

A piece of jewellery can ignite a sweet emotional connection and create a lifetime of memories that few creators of the pieces truly appreciate.
We are drawn to jewellery for variety of reasons. Maybe it is the sparkling colours, uniqueness, or the historical association between jewellery and those who wear them such as kings, queens, movie stars and celebrated historical figures.
Each piece reflects not only the person wearing it, but also the jeweller who created it.
King’s Jewellery World has elevated from a home-based operation at Alexander Village on the East Bank of Demerara to Guyana’s top luxury retailer, with four stores locally, and a strong global appeal, offering the finest pieces crafted from diamond, gold and gemstones.
The foundation of the company is the King himself, Looknauth Persaud, who understood at an early age that the quality of the jewellery produced will set the company apart from the competitors.

A KING IS BIRTHED
On a breezy Wednesday afternoon at The Bistro, one of the newest ventures for the Persaud family, Looknauth reflected with Kaieteur News about his journey, the future and his contributions to the jewellery industry in Guyana.
Looknauth was born on October 22, 1956, in Alexander Village, and attended the West Ruimveldt Primary School. By the age of 13, Looknauth showed a passion for art. Drawn to jewellery, he left school and started as an apprentice with Joe Daley, who had a goldsmith operation in the village.
In those days, everyone knew him as King, but interestingly, the origin of the moniker had nothing to do with jewellery.
According to Looknauth, he portrayed the character of a king during a school play of a traditional Anansi story. Days later, he was King Dasaratha in a Hindu play. Soon after, his friends started teasing him with the name King, and it stuck.
“Everybody knew you by your false name in those days. Everybody knew me as King… and the word was getting out there that I could do things in jewellery. At the end of the day, it worked out well for me. Looknauth Persaud might have deterred some people, but King was a more rounded and acceptable name in the community,” Looknauth reflected.
By the age of 16, Looknauth started to work on more of his own pieces. He started his own operation in the village, having established a workshop, and retailed to pawnbrokers.
“I am from a village that every other home was a jewellery shop. You had to be competitive. If you wanted to be good, you had to be dedicated and willing to compete. My strong subject in school was art, I think it complemented well with the jewellery trade, because I had the eyes already,” Looknauth stated.
Looking back at the decision to leave school early, he believes that some may see this as a problem, but he has worked hard to establish his business.
“It was about earning a living. From the time you started learning a trade at a young age, you were earning a salary. I was ahead of the game, because the ones I left at school went on to become doctors and engineers. I still think I am able to hold my own among the doctors and the lawyers, having made the choice to leave school early,” Looknauth said.
He opined that the approach towards education needs to change because in the olden days, it was dropouts from school that went into trade.

“In today’s world and the kind of equipment they have today, you have to be educated to survive in the industry. You must be computer literate and have knowledge of design concepts,” Looknauth noted.
He has held many inspirational sessions with underprivileged children across Guyana. He said his story as a school dropout is one of inspiration.
“I may have dropped out of school, but today I would go to lectures with lawyers and doctors and be recognised as a jeweller. It is not always where you start in life, but what you make of life,” Looknauth said.

FINDING A GEM
At 19, Looknauth married Ena. The union produced three sons, Ralph, Ryan and Ravi. Supported by his wife, Looknauth was able to grow the business where they employed some persons and started to trade gold.
He started producing work for cricketers in 1982.
“Once that started, the word started to get international. It became a household international name, in that whenever cricketers came to the country, they looked for King,” Looknauth stated.
All of his sons are involved in the family business and with seven grandchildren to date, Looknauth is hopeful that the “King’s dynasty” will remain a dominant player in the industry for many decades to come.
“It would be in their hands to take it forward. My children are in the business and they have been doing a fantastic job in terms of taking it to another level. With their qualifications and their dedication to the company, it helps a whole lot. I am pretty sure that their children will come along and follow on with the business,” Looknauth said.
Presently, King’s Jewellery is home to four Graduate Gemologists (GIA), a Graduate Diamond Grader (GIA), Accredited Jewellery Professional (GIA) and Graduate Jewellery Designer (GIA).
“My children are all gemologists. One of the things I am proud to know is that we are the only company in this country that has more than one gemologist. We have four. It is so important to have product knowledge if you are going to excel in the business,” Looknauth stated.

The Persaud family is a close-knitted unit, so much so that they shut down operations in The Bahamas, Trinidad, the United States and Suriname because it was placing an enormous strain on the family.
“We were in The Bahamas for four years, but it was dividing the family. Every territory that we went to was dividing the family. We were not happy about that, because we wanted to be as a unit. We demanded respect everywhere we went, but it was dividing the family. At no time would we sacrifice quality for expansion. I would prefer to stay small, but whatever we do we do as a unit; as a team,” Looknauth emphasised.

THE BEGINNING
Looknauth recalled that when he started out in the industry, customers were in search of unique and newer creations.
“People were actually fed up of going to the old jewellery places, because they were repeating the same designs year after year. We recognised that if you got a sale from a person, they are coming back into the store to look for new items. We kept putting more and more unique pieces on sale. The others did not see that as the way forward. We were offering limited pieces whereby we made about three of them and did not repeat it,” Looknauth shared.
He added, “We placed a lot of emphasis on the quality and designing.”
The first King’s retail store was opened at Middle and Waterloo Streets in 1994. The company has since grown with King’s Plaza at Quamina Street and stores at Giftland Mall and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
Looknauth stated that referrals were one of the things that shaped the company into what it is today, as they were not using advertisements to sell products.

“It was the people who were referring friends and family to us. The whole story about jewellery is about loyalty. When we started out some people were already following the same jewellers for generations. We were able to change that by forcing quality as our selling point. We were able to forge our way to the top – from a new kid to the premier jewellery company in the country – so obviously quality was the way to go. I would still preach to people that they should follow quality rather than going for the fast dollar,” Looknauth said.
He stated that the company has produced many unique pieces that are original to Guyana. One piece that stands out is the cricket bracelet that even today, after so many years, people still call to request them. Looknauth continues to receive requests for cricket bracelets from Sri Lanka, Australia, England and wherever there is a cricket fraternity.
But how did this piece get started?
Looknauth said that there was first the power bracelet and the company decided to convert it into what is known as the cricket bracelet.
“Clive Lloyd [former West Indies cricket captain] and some of the bigger names started to order them. Whenever West Indies played cricket in those days, outside of their brilliance on the cricket field, it would be the jewellery that shone through, coming from King’s in Guyana,” Looknauth said.
Any business person being the number one in a country is a remarkable achievement. Looknauth embraces the challenge of remaining at the top.
“Being an unknown to erasing all the big names that were in the industry and remaining on top for so many years is something I am proud of. We will hold our end with the kind of dedication we put forward to the industry. We can only get better as more technology becomes available,” Looknauth said.

He recounted that the company started off with handcrafted items, but incorporated technology as they travelled and learned from other jewellers. They utilised training provided by entities such as the Caribbean Development Bank.

SETTING STANDARDS
Looknauth served as President of the Guyana National Association of Goldsmiths and Jewellers for six years. During that period, he used the position to instill a culture of standards in the industry.
“I tried for many years working in the association, trying to enhance the industry. I travelled to every single workshop in this country from Essequibo, Berbice, to Linden and going out there and spreading the word that we need to be more conscious of quality, and we need to sell Guyana as a product,” Looknauth recalled.
He was instrumental in the Bureau of Standards getting involved in the standardisation of gold in Guyana and the establishment of legislation that the Guyana gold standard should be 12, 14, 18 carat and above.
Of recent, he shared some differences with the bureau.
“They have learned our system which we have taught them. They would try to tell me that our system is wrong. They are actually costing me money, where when I send something they undervalue it. For instance, if I send 96 percent purity for them to test they would tell me its 94 and we can’t afford to lose 2 percent in the manufacturing industry. I am known for standard. We do our own in-house checks and we make sure that we put out the product as it or above,” Looknauth said.
He noted that as President of the association, he also campaigned to change the concept where jewellery buyers were given pieces in an envelope that was cut in half.
“We encouraged everyone to put it in nice boxes with gift bags; something with pride. We changed that with the association,” he stated.
According to Looknauth, the industry still needs more quality manufacturing and more persons dedicated to the design concepts.
“We grew up in one thing, knowing it one way. The wider world today is not like that. We need to get into more technology. There are so many things locally that we can incorporate into our industry. Very few jewellery stores that you can go to now and find things that are of Guyana. I think it’s a mindset, because enough educated people are getting involved in the business, but it remains at the bottom house level, and some of the ones who can afford it are scared to come out and to compete openly,” Looknauth said.
He added, “I think we are behind. A lot of the guys go after fast money…a fast dollar, where they screw up the people and don’t get any place, and then the word gets around that the person is not punctual, and the standards are not there. It affects not only that person, but the entire industry,” Looknauth explained.
Training is something Looknauth said he is always willing to provide and has done so over the years, locally, where jewellers from the Caribbean have come to Guyana to be trained.

PASSIONATE ABOUT OTHER THINGS
Looknauth is not only about jewellery, he is involved at the community level as a life member of the Lions Club of Ruimveldt. He previously served as club president, zone chairman and regional chairman.
Cricket is also one of his passions, having played as a youngster for Ruimveldt and East Bank cricket teams. In the cultural arena, he has been able to resurrect the art of tassa music in Guyana. He has engineered Guyana’s participation at competitions in nearby Trinidad and Suriname.
“Those are some of the things that I am proud of. It’s Guyana we are representing. I have trained people in Jamaica to play tassa and assisted Surname with their tassa groups. I have represented Guyana in Brazil with tassa. I did help with the some of the singing programmes and cultural exchanges. I have a deep appreciation for culture,” Looknauth said.
Then there is his culinary draw for duck curry for more than 17 years. Due to his involvement, Guyana was able to beat Suriname for many years in duck curry competitions and won six of eight titles in Trinidad.
One of the biggest West Indian indoor events held in New York was a duck curry competition which Looknauth helped to stage.
“Every time I go to New York, they keep asking when I am going to come back. The venue is too small for us. We had 30,000 people, with helicopters flying around at one of the events. There are a lot of West Indians in New York who are starved for family-oriented entertainment because they are so focused on working seven days that they don’t get a chance to go out,” Looknauth stated.
For Looknauth, Guyana is home and he feels comfortable.
“The things that I can do here; the people I can sit here and be here with, nobody can take that away from me. I think I have done my best. I put my best foot forward. I did everything that I should have done to develop my business into what it is today,” Looknauth proudly reflected.
As the interview concluded over coffee, Looknauth shared the story of purchasing the building at the corner of Middle and Waterloo Streets that houses a King’s Jewellery outlet, King’s Hotel and The Bistro Restaurant and bar. He also spoke about the sunglass and fashion stores.
“It seems like everything you touch turns to gold,” Looknauth was jokingly asked.
“I certainly wished,” he replied with a grin.

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