This story starts with my dad selling crystals door-to-door in mineral capital of the worl Minas Gerais, Brazil where he was born... just to pay for university! A lot of his university friends went on to become major mineral suppliers and manufacturers, sourcing crystals for businesses across the globe.

When he moved our family to Canada for better education, he brought his passion with him and opened a crystal shop. Now, 20 years later, Stonebridge Imports is still going strong, supplying wholesale crystals to businesses all over Canada and the U.S.

So, for the last 20+ years, crystals have been a part of my life. I never formally studied them, but after growing up in this industry, you just absorb everything! How sourcing works, what makes a specimen rare, how the market shifts. I've seen every kind of crystal seller, from the die-hard collectors to the skeptics, the scammers to the true believers. I even went through a phase where I hated being in it, but at some point found my way back.

The industry is beautiful, but it’s also pretty archaic. Filled so much with tradition, but not much innovation, and even though I knew I wanted to stay in this world, I wanted to do something with crystals that set me apart.. something that felt true to what I grew up with but also moved the industry forward.

One day,I thought of a wild and weird idea, what if I turned crystals into plushies? Not knowing if it was even possible, but i figured, why not try? Maybe it was just a passion project, something to scratch an itch, or something I could experiment. But let's see if I could actually make a plushie that captured the essence of a crystal. I told my brother and he was so on board too!

So started designing, thinking it was be so easy but after three years and over 15 revisions, I learned that making a pointed plushie was basically Impossible. My original concept was a crystal cluster, but every attempt just looked like a spiky-haired anime guy. After tons of iterations, I miraculously landed on something that actually worked! A double-terminated shape that looked pretty cool. It kind of just clicked and felt right. The only thing left was to add a face that matches the personality of each crystal!

But, after so long, I kinda lost the spark for this project. we had a prototype, but i figured that was it. I thought, maybe we'd keep one in the store with a not for sale sticker on it as a trophy, just something cool we made for fun.

Of course Arthur had a different idea. He thought we should put it on kickstarter, just to see if anyone else actually liked it too. I was nervous, because what if no one did? Naturally we launched anyway, and to my surprise people got it! We hit 200% of our funding goal, and right now as I type this, i’m packing so many special orders! 144 in total, and around 300 plushies accounted for.

I got a little emotional knowing they were going to people who love crystals and believed in this project enough to support it. We were able to get a few extra for the shop and the website. The spark is back, and honestly I couldn't be more excited. I just want to keep designing new crystal plushies to life, and see how far we can go! It's been a long journey so far, but knowing people connect with this project makes it all worth it!!

The BIG vision, though? Every single crystal you’d find in a traditional shop... available as a plushi, with different sizes, different shapes, and everything that makes crystals unique, but soft and collectible! Although, prototyping takes forever, since most of the time what looks good on paper doesn’t always translate to a 3D plush, and refining each design is a PROCESS! But, I'm pretty committed to making it happen.

SO stick around. Tell your friends that their favourite crystal is coming soon as a Crystal Plushie!