Table of contents for Summer 2025 in Something About Rocks

Coinciding with the annual Watches & Wonders fair in Geneva, we themed our Summer issue around everything related to time — and, of course, some of the finest watches and jewellery. Leading our cover stars is British rapper Giggs. Over his twenty-year music career, he has become one of the UK’s foremost rap artists and collaborated with major talents worldwide. For our London shoot, Giggs showcased his own signature jewellery alongside some of Swiss watchmaking’s most collectible pieces. Also gracing our cover is actress Mimi Keene, famed for her role as Ruby Matthews in Netflix’s Sex Education. Keene is set to appear this Spring in the BBC Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero. In our February shoot, she wore high jewellery, Spring/Summer fashion, and watches from one of her favorite luxury…

1 HELLENISTIC GOLD EARRINGS, 4TH CENTURY BC Albion Art Collection, Tokyo The jewels of antiquity – their meanings, rituals and craftsmanship skills - have thrilled, intrigued and inspired goldsmiths of every generation through jewellery history. Jewellery, especially gold jewellery, played an important social and cultural role in the classical world. Jewels were symbols of power, status, wealth and authority but also magical objects imbued with otherworldly and apotropaic powers, worn to connect the wearer to the divine. Gold was the primary material in Greek gold jewellery, rare, precious and, because of its colour, sheen and immutability — believed to possess the power of the sun, the life force and a promise of immortality, life beyond death. Goldsmiths were revered as priests, as ritual technicians, with the ability to channel the gods…

When we talk about grillz in hip-hop, names like Johnny Dang, Ben Baller, and Gabby Elan often take the spotlight. Yet history has a way of forgetting the pioneers who paved the way. Lost in the noise of these contemporary artisans is Eddie Plein, the true Godfather of Grillz. His influence, while understated, is woven into the very fabric of hip-hop jewellery. The genre was born in 1973, when DJ Kool Herc stood on a block in the vibrant, multicultural South Bronx, New York City. With two turntables, he extended the breakbeats of popular jazz, blues, and R&B tracks, creating a new sound which we now know as hip-hop. Since then, jewellery has developed a symbiotic relationship with the genre, with diamonds and gold becoming an integral part of its…

Why did you become a jewellery designer? Growing up in Thailand, I was surrounded by people who adored jewellery. My mother and my grandmother loved collecting pieces, and I would spend hours browsing with them in jewellery shops. My father and my grandfather both wore gemstone-studded pinky rings. As a teenager, I would go through my mum’s jewellery box, admiring all her accessories and loose gemstones. They weren’t anything rare, but they came in lots of wonderful pastel colours, which got me hooked. I went on to study jewellery design at Central St. Martins in London, followed by gemmology at the Gemmological Institute of America and the Asian Institute of Gemmological Sciences. How would you describe Patcharavipa’s aesthetic? My jewellery is sculptural but still comfortable. It’s textured, almost organic-looking, with…

1 BVLGARI This Bvlgari Serpenti necklace is a dazzling embodiment of the serpent’s transformative power. Crafted in pink gold, it features 13 spinels, 4 step-cut rubies, 41 buff-top rubies, and over 14 carats of diamonds. The necklace’s sinuous design and vibrant gemstones reflect Bvlgari’s mastery of bold colour, while drawing on the house’s long-standing serpent motif, which first appeared in 1948 on a bracelet-watch in gold with a square head for the dial and strap that wrapped the wrist. 2 CARTIER Known for its bold animal-inspired designs, Cartier’s craftsmanship brings the tiger’s movement and energy to life. From Cartier’s Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection, the Tigre suite captures the power and grace of the tiger through stunning yellow gold, frosted with yellow, orange, and brown diamonds in tiger-stripe patterns, while onyx…

For two decades, De Beers’ Talisman collection has celebrated the raw beauty of rough diamonds. Unlike traditional fine jewellery, which favours precision-cut gems, Talisman embraces nature’s artistry, showcasing each diamond in its untouched form — unique, textured, and full of character. The collection’s signature serti-poinçon technique, a method of hand-hammering gold, enhances this organic aesthetic, creating contemporary pieces with an heirloom-like quality. This year, De Beers unveils a new chapter for Talisman, introduced through a striking campaign featuring British model and activist Adwoa Aboah. Her presence brings a bold, modern energy to the collection, reinforcing its spirit of individuality and self-expression. With rare white, yellow and brown rough diamonds set in textured gold, Talisman proves that uncut stones hold just as much allure as their polished counterparts. With its distinctive…

Ayaka Miyoshi burst onto the Japanese entertainment scene with a unique blend of charm and talent. Born in Kawagoe, Saitama, in 1996 as an only child, she quickly captured attention with her early acting debut on the TV show Otoko no Kosodate in 2007. Not long after, her striking looks landed her an exclusive modelling contract with the magazine Seventeen. In 2010, she joined the dynamic girl group Sakura Gakuin—whose members, ranging from ten to fifteen years old, released fresh music every March as a symbolic end to the school year—all under the wing of the Amuse talent agency. This marked the beginning of a journey that would see Ayaka evolve from a child star to one of Japan’s most compelling rising talents. In 2022, she became Tiffany & Co.’s…

You can tell, just by speaking to him, that Dries Criel used to be a dancer. Between the ages of six and seventeen, Criel’s life revolved around his time in the ballet studio and his elegant poise and animated hand gestures still give him away today. “I like to say I was born with two passions, for movement and for beautiful things,” says the Belgian native. “Sadly, when I hit seventeen, my body stopped cooperating, and I started getting more and more injured. Being naturally competitive, I realised that if I couldn’t be the best at ballet, I’d have to find another future for myself.” That opportunity arrived with a summer internship at a diamond dealer in Antwerp, renowned as one of the world’s great diamond hubs. “I realised I…

This might be the closest interview I’ve done in my life,” rapper Giggs laughs, his 100-watt smile lighting up the studio as we sit down to do our interview. We’re sitting close together, trying to get the perfect shot for our video shoot and it’s proving tricky. “Relax man!” he implores, grabbing me by the hand and breaking out into an even bigger smile. An enthusiastic dab handshake follows. “Bro, I don’t even know where to look now!” he jests, as we’re directed by the camera crew to sit even closer. An awkward silence follows; Giggs bursts out laughing. The rapper is certainly true to what he describes as his “street name” when we meet. Giggs was nicknamed “the giggler” as a child on account that he would always smile…

I feel like there is so much luck involved in this job,” actress Mimi Keene smiles when she sits down with Something About Rocks, reflecting on her success over the last few years. Keene got her small screen break as series regular Cindy Williams in long-running soap Eastenders before landing a part in Netflix smash Sex Education, where she won fans over with her portrayal of mean-girl Ruby Matthews. Now, she’s starring in a huge new BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero. “I feel very lucky, very lucky,” Keene says. “I feel that every job I’ve ever had is a lucky break and every job I will ever have is a lucky break too.” Yet there is certainly more than luck involved when it comes to Keene, 26, earning…

Jonathan Bailey has enjoyed spectacular success during the last couple of years. I first met him two years ago in a country hotel on the edge of Wentworth Estate in Surrey, on the occasion of being announced as an OMEGA ambassador. He’d just played the starring role as Lord Anthony Bridgerton in the second series of the Netflix smash Bridgerton and was being lauded as the UK’s next big international star. Today, Bailey is on the cusp of Hollywood superstardom: he’s just featured in the blockbuster musical Wicked – a film that received a staggering ten Oscar nominations and saw him cast in a line up alongside Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo – and will appear this summer in the latest iteration of the dinosaur film series Jurassic World Rebirth.…

ADIDAS adidas.co.uk ASPREY asprey.com AUDEMARS PIGUET audemarspiguet.com BOUCHERON boucheron.com BUCCELLATI buccellati.com BVLGARI bulgari.com CARTIER cartier.com CHAUMET chaumet.com DE BEERS debeers.co.uk DENZIL PATRICK denzilpatrick.com DIOR dior.com DOLCE & GABBANA dolcegabbana.com DRIES CRIEL driescriel.com GRAFF graff.com HERMÈS hermes.com HOMME PLISSÈ ISSEY MIYAKE isseymiyake.com HUBLOT hublot.com LALIQUE lalique.com LOUIS VUITTON louisvuitton.com MAGLIANO magliano.website MAISON MIHARA YASUHIRO miharayasuhiro.jp MARTINE ROSE martine-rose.com OMEGA omegawatches.com ORIS oris.ch PANERAI panerai.com PATCHARAVIPA patcharavipa.com PIAGET piaget.com POMELLATO pomellato.com SOLID HOMME solidhomme.com SUNSPEL sunspel.com TIFFANY & CO. tiffany.com VAN CLEEF & ARPELS vancleefarpels.com WALES BONNER walesbonner.com…