THE LOOK

DESIGNER SHOWCASE

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Mixed tourmaline and garnet Gypsy earrings in 14k yellow gold; $4,990

butt off and she puts on whatever clothes are at hand before she runs downtown to oversee the production of her line. (For the record, Stone looks lovely in a black-and-white striped skirt, no jewelry but a wedding band of emerald-cut diamonds on platinum, and a hint of makeup.) She has a way of seeming simultaneously flighty and grounded—which just might be the sign of a true creative entrepreneur. “I’m reinterpreting classic motifs,” she says excitedly, “and giving them a modern message.” Stone leaps from her seat, momentarily abandoning her quinoa vegetable soup, and unties a velvet case on the next table, unfurling her entire collection in progress. There are signets, both rings and pendants, galore—a flying pig, a unicorn, an owl, and a lion. A double-sided pendant has a double-sided diamond. A diamond boomerang pendant rests on a quartz inlay that says “Karma.” “I have a parrot signet that says ‘Truth,’ which is onyx and emerald. And then the mother-of-pearl and diamond signet has sunshine on the back, and it says ‘Optimism.’ ” The letters are kind of jumbled, so you have to decipher one of the four ideals: Wisdom, Truth, Karma, and Optimism. “It started with the flying pig,” Stone explains. “I wanted

“I want to give people a head start on the stories they will pass down. If I open your jewelry box, I see a story in every single piece.” — Kirsty Stone

Diamond Magna ring in 14k yellow gold; $2,645

Diamond channel Barrel band in 14k yellow gold; $4,590

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017

to do a signet, and I wanted to give it a twist.” Customers’ initials would be the old version of that. Stone was angling for quirky. “I mean, I’m a little offbeat. I wear things that people would say don’t go together, but I don’t care.” The flying pig is, by far, her biggest seller. It’s engraved with a message: “Anything is possible.” Indeed, just four years ago, Stone was still working her day job managing a high-end architecture firm in Beverly Hills, Calif., after relocating from Toronto in 2010 for L.A.’s weather and creative community. She started at the firm when one of her closest friends was just opening it. “We were in his house, with his kids playing on the floor, while we started a company,” she says. “It began from nothing. Now it’s a $50 million company with 50 employees.” Working there taught her priceless lessons in owning and running a business, but she was careful not to get too caught up: She was doing this in order to get her footing and create her own jewelry line. “I never forgot about it,” Stone says. “It pained me on a regular basis, though I loved the people I worked with. I was like, I’m building your dream, not mine.” JCKONLINE.COM