HOW CRYSTALS FOUND ME

January 13 2020

Hi crystal lovers!

Here is the story about how crystals found me.

As some of you know I have a background in design making sustainable clothes and jewelry, and have always loved working with beautiful materials and shapes. 

My husband who is a designer too, was actually the one of us who was initially drawn to crystals. He wanted to do an art project using big chunks of rock, so we set up a meeting with a retailer. I tagged along hoping to find eco friendly black beads for my jewelry line.

Up until then I had only used black beads, and wasn’t really interested in anything else. To put it mildly had very little knowledge of crystals, and even though I have alway been very spiritual, I was just never really vibing with the ’New Age’ concept. It never appealed to me neither aesthetically nor spiritually, so I hadn’t ever considered using crystals for my designs. 

So I went along, and kind of sort of got what I came for, but unexpectedly I was very drawn to Herkimer Diamonds. The minimalist, raw and unpolished natural beauty really spoke to me and my aesthetic approach, and ended up purchasing quite a lot not having any idea or plan as to how to use them in my designs. 

So what were these crystals? I knew that that they were old, came from New York, they were uncut - and most importantly to me, they looked really pretty. 

In my designprocess I usually spend a little time with the materials prior to deciding on the design just to get an idea of how to best put them to use. If I want to make a beautiful piece of clothes I want to know first hand how the fabric drapes on a body, how it feels to the skin, and what type of scenario it matches. How would this fabric make a woman feel? Beautiful, relaxed, powerful, strong, gentle, comfortable?

With the Herkimer diamonds I found that I enjoyed having them around in my home, looking at them and holding them in my hands. I started having one in the pocket of my jacket when I went outside and simply feel the points and surfaces as I went about my day. Somehow they inspired me to chose clear thoughts, listen to my intuition and meditate more. If I should use one word to describe them it would be ‘clarity’. Clear mind and clear intentions. 

I was inspired to create something that would be a reminder throughout the day of what my intentions were. Something beautiful and minimalistic, that my clients would love to wear.

This was my very subtle initiation into the realm of crystals - it felt very natural and very effortless.

After about six months I met a sustainable jewelry designer that I had known for a few years. I asked her if she had some ideas as to how to make them into jewelry and we started working together. We created a wonderful sustainable jewelry collection that while celebrating the perfection and rawness of the Herkimer Diamionds, appealed to an effortless, minimalistic lifestyle.

The next step was of course I had to do some more research so that I could explain to my costumers what these crystals were, but as I dug deeper into the science of Herkimer Diamonds my mind expanded (exploded). While I was learning about the geology of these crystals, over and over again I kept finding testimonials from healers and people that ‘could feel crystals’ that had come to the exact same conclusions as I had. Honestly I was blown away by how other peoples experiences perfectly related to my inner experience.  Absolutely amazing! 

That effortless experience that I had with Herkimer Diamonds became my main intention for AVIUVI.

I wanted to create that space where spirituality becomes relevant to you. A natural part of everyday life. Something relatable to your life experience, and an effortless way of integrating it. 

The reason why I’m telling you my story is to let you know that you don’t have to have a major physical and emotional reaction to crystals for them to work for you. Sometimes profound spiritual experiences whisper. For some it starts with a geological or historical interest and for others like me it starts with the aesthetic appeal. 

My first experience with crystals felt more like the pleasure of looking at a beautiful sunset, touching the bark of an old tree, or breathing in fresh ocean air. ‘Natural’ is probably one of the words that would best describe it. It wasn’t anything weird and spacey, no strange rituals, forced emotions, not a set of experiences that I had to subscribe to in order to do it ‘right’, nor a group of people that I needed to tell me what I was feeling. It was remarkably easy to tell you the truth.

After my experience with Herkimer Diamonds I was intrigued to learn more about crystals, so I tried out some different ones.

I very quickly learned that it was important to me that the crystals were in their natural state - uncut, unpolished and definitely not artificially colored or coated. I was in absolute awe of the raw perfection of nature - as a designer, I could truthfully say that no design object or piece of art could ever compete with the millions of years it had taken the Earth to create this. 

When I talk to collectors and retailers who have spend their entire lives with crystals, they still cannot believe this unbelievable beauty of nature. 

With this I hope provide you another story about what it is to feel, collect and work with crystals.  A different look and point of view, and hopefully a more effortless way of approaching this topic. 

Thank you for following AVIUVI, I hope you enjoyed this, and let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Lots of love!

AM