Crystals and gemstones have always been popular and at the same time they have a difficult reputation, as they mostly originate from structurally weak and conflict-ridden countries.
We take care from the very beginning to purchase our stones exclusively from reputable sources and conflict-free areas.
The year 2020 brought many unexpected events and the Corona crisis did not only hit the western economy hard. Especially at such times it is essential not only to buy stones with transparent origins but also to support local communities and mine workers.
Madagascar is a country in trouble. 93% of people live below the poverty line. The crystal market is big business but a dark one in some respects with many children working in the depths of the mines in order to get crystals out of reach to adults.
Madagascan gemstones are always very difficult to obtain directly, as a large part of them take a detour via South East Asia. We are therefore very happy that we could enter into a new cooperation in this field.
Our cooperation partner Pete is a retired pilot who has been travelling to Madagascar for more than a decade and spends a large part of the year there. He not only buys exclusively directly from the mine workers at fair prices, but also supports the local communities with tools, food and even finances them in advance during his absence.
He ensures aid gets sent to this country and continued to do this even during covid by private plane when most aid stopped. He's helped build schools and fund education as he loves the country and it's people so much.
I met Pete on a flight to Milan in 2018 on route to the Italian yoga show. His passion for Madagascar and it's people immediately made me want to help them. A few years later I started getting crystals directly from families there, sending profit back to them and cutting out greedy middle men.
Madagascar is strongly dominated by Asian buyers, who buy up masses of raw materials, mostly at very low prices, and export them to Southeast Asia to cut the gems. We are especially pleased to be able to offer crystals which have been cut in Madagascar in addition to rough stones. This guarantees that not only the mine workers and their families benefit, but also the local cutting industry is strengthened and thus a larger part of the value chain and also financial resources remain in the country.
If anyone sells crystals please question them on their practises. Supporting the dark crystal industry not only means poor quality crystals with dying energy but those in the mining industry are being treated poorly in the process and Mother Earth is being hurt.
All my crystals come with certificate and provenance information. I promise you'll notice the difference immediately.
