Our Ethical Sourcing Commitment
About Our Commitment
Rocks and Things Store is committed to the ethical sourcing of the crystals, fossils and minerals available to you from our collections. We have thought about what this means for a long time. Below we explain our thinking and commitments on this important issue.
We believe that crystals, fossils and minerals are beautiful gifts from nature to be appreciated and valued. Holding a crystal, fossil or mineral should evoke a sense of awe. These are unique creations forged by deep time and long finished geological processes and conditions.
Holding it in your hand also means it has been found on the surface or mined from underground somewhere on our Earth. Inherently, this is an extractive and ultimately non-sustainable production process.
If production continues over time, any mineral deposit becomes depleted. Eventually it will be exhausted. As well, mining and production practices can be exploitative of the people and communities involved in the process. As well as financial exploitation, the health and wellbeing of communities can be compromised by the production process.
Mining and production processes affect the air, land and water. This can be highly damaging to environments and their inhabitants. Not just people, but all the life present in the immediate and downstream environments are impacted too.
Mining can be done with respect for the environment, but this is inevitably changed, often to a great extent.
It is also true that nations, communities, families and individuals derive irreplaceable income from mining and production processes. This may be the only viable source of income for a community and its members.
All of this means that collecting crystals, fossils and minerals involves serious ethical considerations. Judging these has to involve what the crystal means to us: what it adds to our experiences, understandings and wellbeing. This judgment must also consider what price our planet and its inhabitants paid. And then what benefits were received in exchange by those involved.
Overall, we believe that holding and appreciating the beauty of a crystal should benefit us and the people and their communities who delivered it to us from the ground. This means ethical sourcing isn't just a slogan for us — it is at the heart of what we do.
Meet Our Artisan Partner: Lawrence Handicrafts
One of our most treasured partnerships is with Lawrence Handicrafts, the family owned and operated business of a master artisan based in Karachi, Pakistan. Lawrence personally hand-carves each figurine and piece with extraordinary skill and care. He draws on years of traditional craftsmanship passed down through generations.
Lawrence sources his raw materials from miners and suppliers across Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. These come together in the long-standing crystal wholesale market in Karachi, where Lawrence is a frequent presence. He has also travelled by train and bus to Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan for Rocks and Things Store, to directly source specimens from local producers This region is renowned for producing some of the world's most spectacular minerals. By working directly with Lawrence Handicrafts, we ensure that every piece or specimen you receive has been fashioned with integrity, fair compensation, and genuine artisan pride.
Every crystal tells a story — of the land and raw rock it came from, and the hands that found and shaped it
Where Our Crystals Come From
We are committed to transparency about the origins of our specimens. Here's a look at how we source some of our most popular crystals:
- Crystal specimens — Sourced directly through small-scale miners in Pakistan and Afghanistan, ensuring fair compensation directly to the producers
- Hand-Carved Animal Figures — Each piece individually carved by Lawrence in his Karachi workshop, using locally obtained raw stone
- Specimens from Iran & Pakistan — Acquired through long-standing relationships with trusted regional suppliers
We are continually working to expand our sourcing transparency and will update this page as we learn more about our supply chain.
Why Ethical Sourcing Matters
The crystal and mineral industry, like many extractive industries, can carry hidden costs — environmental damage, unsafe labour conditions, and exploitation of vulnerable communities. We believe our customers deserve to know where their crystals come from and that the people involved in bringing them to market are treated with dignity and respect.
By choosing Rocks and Things Store, you are supporting:
- ✅ Fair compensation for artisans and miners who are also supporting their families and communities
- ✅ Direct partnerships that cut out exploitative middlemen and corporations
- ✅ Small-scale and family-run operations over transnational industrial corporations
- ✅ Transparency about origins and sourcing practices
- ✅ Community support for the regions and peoples where our crystals originate
Our Ongoing Commitment
Ethical sourcing is a continuing challenge. We are committed to:
- improving our supply chain practices
- avoiding vendors and outlets who may not be providing fair compensation to their suppliers
- avoiding vendors and outlets that may be misrepresenting their items or suppliers
- providing consistent, fair, and reliable relationships with our artisan and supplier partners
- supporting artisan (and their families) livelihoods
- being honest with our customers about what we know — and what we are still learning or unable to discover.
Have questions about where a specific product comes from? We'd love to hear from you. Get in touch with us here.
Rocks and Things Store — crystal clear on what we do and what it means