About Margot

Margot McKinney was born in Toowoomba, Queensland. She was the first of three children –all girls – for John and Anne McKinney. Her father John was the third generation in the family business McKinney’s, which had been founded by her great-grandfather John McKinney Senior in 1884. At the time of Margot’s birth McKinney’s was a major department store in Toowoomba and a household name in the Darling Downs.

After completing her schooling and then studying business at university in Los Angeles in the United States, Margot commenced her working career at McKinney’s. By the time she was 25 she was managing the family’s thriving Brisbane store at Indooroopilly, while also travelling to international jewellery fairs to source new and exciting product and completing a diploma in gemmology. McKinney’s acquired the celebrated jewellery house Hardy Brothers, with stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Port Douglas and the Gold Coast. Margot moved to Sydney to manage the Hardy Brothers store in Double Bay, and her energy and enthusiasm for the jewellery industry kicked into top gear.

Inspiration from numerous international fairs and her own innate creativity led her to start designing jewellery in the late 1990s and in 2007 she launched her own brand, Margot McKinney. A year later, Neiman Marcus began stocking her pieces in the United States in a relationship that continues to this day.

In 2022 Margot was named in the Australia Day Honours list with an OAM (The Medal of the Order of Australia) for her service to the arts as a designer, and for her many charity endeavours such as her work as Patron of The King’s Trust Australia. The King’s Trust was founded by King Charles III to tackle the global crisis of youth unemployment and to support young people worldwide.