Metal x Wire’s Rockstone Collection Showcases Jamaica’s Semiprecious Stones

By Karen Dybis | March 06, 2025

In Jamaican culture, rockstone refers to a pebble that symbolizes both beauty and quiet strength, and that word and its essence are what Metal x Wire’s Rockstone collection means to designer Symoné Currie, who was born in Jamaica. Currie created the capsule to honor her native island’s natural treasures and geological wonders.

“When I started working with gemstones for my first fine jewelry collection, I fell in love with how stones could amplify a design,” she says. “I always felt drawn to the untapped potential of Jamaica’s own stones, so I decided to dive deeper into the island’s mining industry. Through this process, I discovered our stunning array of semiprecious stones—jaspers, agates, quartz, calcite, malachite, and azurite—scattered along riverbeds and fields.

“The Rockstone capsule is a reflection of this exploration, bringing these raw materials to life—not just as stones, but as refined, contemporary fine jewelry that truly represents the hidden gems of Jamaica.”

MXW ROCKSTONE I — *Metal x Wire’s Rockstone I gold band features an organic form with Jamaican moss agate at the tips, accented by melee diamonds.*

The team who crafts Metal x Wire designs is based in New York City, and Currie brought the project to them as a way to connect her worlds, as she splits her time between Kingston, the Jamaican capital, and New York City.

Three 18k gold rings make up the Rockstone collection. Rockstone I features Jamaican moss agate and melee diamonds. Its wrap design, along with the inclusions of the moss agate, reflects the island’s lush landscape, Currie says.

Rockstone II uses yellow-brown jasper that was hand-sourced from riverbeds in eastern Jamaica. The jasper is set around the band, with citrine as the center stone. Here, the interplay between citrine’s radiance and jasper’s earthen quality embodies the island’s warmth and vibrancy, Currie says.

Rockstone III is a similar design as II, but it has milky agate rather than jasper, and a 0.77 ct. marquise diamond for its center stone. (All diamonds in Rockstone are natural.) The agate also was hand-sourced from riverbeds and has moss-like inclusions, and Currie says Rockstone III captures the flowing of water over rocks, for a delicate balance of softness and brilliance.

To create the rings, Currie worked over the past year with Artisan House, a Jamaican social enterprise backed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to source stones. The process involved extensive research, discovery, and experimentation—identifying which stones would be available, where they were found, and how they could be adapted for fine jewelry.

MXW ROCKSTONE III — *For Rockstone III, milky agate with moss inclusions was hand-sourced from riverbeds in Jamaica.*

From there, Currie says the designs evolved organically, always guided by her principles of form, function, and fantasy. She explored different cuts and settings to ensure the final pieces felt both cohesive and distinct.

“To put it into perspective, I worked with one lapidary in Jamaica who used the tools they had available to cut each stone. Unfortunately, Jamaica is lacking certain equipment, so some precision cuts weren’t possible on the island. The team in New York was able to make those precise cuts with their advanced machinery,” Currie says.

“We worked back and forth, iterating collaboratively multiple times to create the final version,” Currie says. “I was the first fine jewelry designer to do this with them, and my hope is to highlight the potential of this craft, so that the Jamaican semiprecious industry receives more investment and recognition.”

The island and her family are always on Currie’s mind as she works on Metal x Wire, the brand she founded in 2021.

“Before I began my fine jewelry journey, the first stones I was introduced to were calcite crystals from the limestone quarry my grandfather owned. When I was younger, he would often bring back cuts of calcite crystals he found beautiful and give them to me to keep. As an imaginative 7-year-old, I thought they were diamonds,” she says.

Because jewelry is deeply tied to storytelling, Currie wanted to tell a story with the Rockstone jewels that goes beyond the usual tourist ideas about Jamaica.

“This capsule highlights the sophistication and depth of Jamaica’s natural landscape, offering a refined yet unexpected take on what it means to wear something truly rooted in the island’s beauty,” she says. “I want people to feel connected to something truly unique yet deeply personal—rooted in Jamaica’s natural splendor, where land and water shape beauty in the most unexpected ways.”

Top: Metal x Wire’s Rockstone II ring with citrine and Jamaican jasper (photos courtesy of Metal x Wire)