John Ayton MBE (born 1962/1963), is a British businessman and investor in the

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good (economics), good for which demand (economics), demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of ove ...

industry, and the co-founder of

Links of London Links of London was a British brand owned by Greece, Greek jewellery company Folli Follie, with headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1990 by John Ayton and Annoushka Ducas. It sold through outlets in Europe, the US, Asia and online. ...

and Annoushka, an English jewellery brand founded in 2009.

Early life

Ayton was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and graduated in modern history from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1983.

Career

After university, Ayton worked in

corporate law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corpora ...

in London and Hong Kong. Leaving the legal profession in 1995, he was on the advisory board of Halston Borghese Inc, a US-based

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

company, responsible for restructuring their Japanese and German operations. In 1990, together with his wife, jewellery designer

Annoushka Ducas Annoushka Ducas MBE is a jewellery designer, creative director and entrepreneur who founded British jewellery companies Links of London and Annoushka. Biography After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris in the 1980s, Annoushka embarked on the f ...

, Ayton co-founded Links of London, a jewellery brand with sales of over £50m. In July 2006, they sold the company to

Folli Follie Folli Follie is a Greek-based international company which designs, manufactures and distributes luxury jewellery, watches and fashion accessories. History The company was established in 1982 in Greece by Dimitris Koutsolioutsos (). The first sh ...

SA. In October 2007, Ayton stepped down from the company. In July 2009, Ayton and Ducas launched English jewellery brand Annoushka Jewellery.

Investment and mentoring

Ayton has invested at the earliest stage in emerging luxury brands including Bremont Watch Company, Orlebar Brown, Mr Hare, Boticca.com, and Grind & Co. He also acts as a

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

and advisor to the founders, and is chairman at both Bremont and Mr Hare. Ayton was the founder of Walpole Brands of Tomorrow and its chair and a director until 2014. Since 2007, he has been mentoring and supporting British emerging talent within the luxury goods industry.

Other

Ayton and wife Ducas were ambassadors for Team 2012, the campaign to support British

athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

in their quest for medal success in the London Olympics. The campaign raised over £18 million.

Honours

In the 2012

New Years Honours List The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, Ayton was awarded an MBE for his services to the UK jewellery industry.

Personal life

Ayton and Ducas live in a Georgian cottage in

Pimlico Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...

, London, since 2007, having previously lived in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

. They also have a seaside house in

Bosham Bosham () is a coastal village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, centred about west of Chichester with its clustered developed part west of this. ...

, West Sussex. They have four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayton, John Living people British chief executives Members of the Order of the British Empire Year of birth missing (living people) 1960s births British company founders People from Pimlico People from Notting Hill People educated at Oundle School People from Bosham