Every stone in our library has a place of origin. This page lists them. Where we cannot verify provenance, we say so. Where we work with the same supplier for years, we name them.
The crystal industry has a complicated relationship with transparency. Stones move through many hands between the ground and the studio — miners, brokers, dealers, distributors — and along the way, accurate provenance often gets lost. We don't pretend to have solved this, but we have decided how we deal with it.
Three rules: We work with as few suppliers as possible. We visit them when we can. We tell you what we know, and we don't fill in what we don't.
— mo ✍
Amethyst · Rose Quartz · Citrine · Smoky Quartz · Strawberry Quartz
Brazil is the world's largest source of quartz-family stones. We've worked with one supplier in Minas Gerais for two years — a small operation that buys directly from the mining co-ops, not through brokers. The price is higher than the wholesale market average. The stones are visibly better.
Jade (Hetian, Xinjiang) · Freshwater Pearl (Zhejiang) · Mother of Pearl · Smoky Quartz (occasional alt-source)
For jade, we source nephrite from a family-run shop in Hetian, Xinjiang, that I've been buying from for four years. Freshwater pearls come from Zhejiang province where the freshwater pearl industry is centered. Local sourcing for these particular stones means I can visit the supplier in person, which I do twice a year.
Pink Opal (Andean variety) · occasional Aventurine
Pink opal almost exclusively comes from the Andean range in Peru. We work through a Hong Kong-based importer who is direct with the Peruvian mining cooperatives. The supply is volatile — pink opal is sometimes out of stock for months. We don't substitute when this happens; we wait.
Moonstone · Aquamarine · Lapis Lazuli (via Sri Lanka)
Most of the world's commercial moonstone comes from India and Sri Lanka. We buy from a dealer in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, who personally selects each batch. About one in four moonstones meets our standard for adularescence. The rest are returned. We pay for the right to refuse, and the supplier honors it because we've been buying from him since 2024.
Lapis Lazuli (premium grade)
The best lapis in the world has come from Sar-i Sang in northeastern Afghanistan for at least 6,000 years. Sourcing is complicated by political instability — we buy through a Pakistani importer who has long-standing relationships with the cooperative miners. Documentation is imperfect. We disclose this openly.
Sunstone (Oregon variety) · Black Tourmaline
Oregon sunstone is geographically unique — the only place in the world with copper-included feldspar that flashes the way it does. We import a small amount each year from a single Oregon-based supplier who's been mining the same plot since the 1990s.
Carnelian · White Howlite · Onyx · Green Aventurine · Pink Opal · Mother of Pearl
Some of our library is sourced through two long-standing Hong Kong trade partners who consolidate from multiple mines and dealers. For these stones, we know the country of origin (sometimes the region) but not the specific mine. We've decided this is acceptable for the volumes we work with. As our scale grows, we plan to move more sourcing direct.
We work with seven total suppliers across all stones. We could probably reduce that to five if we tried. We will. Most industry players have dozens.
mo personally visits suppliers in China twice a year. International suppliers we visit when travel allows — Sri Lanka 2025, planned Peru 2027.
For stones where provenance is unclear, we say so. We don't claim "ethically sourced" without specifics. We don't display certificates we don't hold.
When a stone is out of stock, we wait. When a supplier degrades quality, we move. When neither is possible, we discontinue that stone from the library temporarily.
Most online jewelry brands publish a sourcing page that's vague to the point of being decorative. "Ethically sourced from around the world." "Conflict-free." We did not want to do that. The terms are devalued by overuse.
What we wanted instead was a page where you could read the truth, in roughly the level of detail mo would tell you if you asked over tea: which countries, which stones, which suppliers, what we know and what we don't. That's this page.
If a more honest version of this exists, we'd like to see it. If you have questions we haven't addressed, write to us. We'll add answers here.
— mo ✍