Our Story: From the Mines of Artigas to Your Hands

Diego is from Uruguay, and every year our family would travel there to visit his mother. One summer, when our children were very small, Diego and his mother took us north to the amethyst mines of Artigas.

I'm a February birthday, so amethyst is my birthstone, and I have always been obsessed with rocks. I was the little kid who picked up stones everywhere and filled her pockets with them. So stepping inside a working amethyst mine was a dream I didn't even know I had.

The boys came home with big pieces of light lavender quartz. Back then those pieces weren't worth much, so they got to keep the big ones! Diego's mom also gave us some of her amethyst. Diego's family had spent a lot of time in the north, and that trip felt like coming home to something. We returned with suitcases full of stones, and our friends couldn't believe what we'd brought back.

A question we couldn't ignore

A few years later, we were planning another trip. By then we had created a wonderful holistic community: friends, healers and practitioners who cared deeply about where their herbs and essential oils came from. They wanted to know how plants were grown and processed, and whether the people who harvested them were cared for.

But we realized the mineral world didn't have that same level of care. In some parts of the world, stones are mined in ways that harm people and the land, including serious human rights abuses. Most people buying crystals for healing and intention have no way of knowing where their stones really came from.

"I guess we're doing this"...

So before that trip, we let everyone know we were going. Requests started pouring in for pieces. A friend suggested I start a Facebook group, and within an hour it grew to more than 150 people, all hoping we'd bring something back for them.

What we'd planned as a simple favor turned into something much bigger. Standing in the north of Uruguay, Diego and I looked at each other and said, "I guess we're doing this."

We knew nothing about importing. So we left all of our clothes in Uruguay, even the kids' clothes, and filled every suitcase and bag we had with stones to carry home.

Through the hard years...

We prepared to hit the road and start doing shows. Our very first show was scheduled for March 13, 2020, and of course it never happened. Those years were challenging for our family, especially with two autistic children navigating school during COVID. But we figured it out, and we had some truly amazing years.

At the end of 2023, our business was badly hacked, and it took us a long time to recover.

What you see today...

This website, and everything on it, is blood, sweat and tears, and a passion for bringing you stones that are taken out of the ground and finished with intention. We still travel to Uruguay and choose every piece together, by hand.

We are so grateful you're here, helping us bring more consciousness to the minerals.

With love,
Lisa & Diego

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