Crazy For Crystals
By Darren Wong
DARREN WONG heads out to find out what is with the recent trend of youngsters buying and selling, despite it being a niche market.
A collection of Xuan Ying’s crystals, collected over the span of 6 months. (Photo courtesy of Ms Ng Xuan Ying)
Ms Ng Xuan Ying, 18, stumbled upon a Tiktok video on crystals and decided to purchase a crystal for herself. Before long, this purchase would lead Ms Ng to find herself taking part in the resurgence of collecting crystals.
According to Penn Today, the usage of crystals can be traced all the way back to ancient Egypt where they were known to have spiritual powers and were often worn by pharaohs and royalty. Now, we are seeing common folk of all ages keeping and wearing crystals.
“I first heard about crystals from my parents, but I did not really put my mind to it since I was really young back then,” said Ms Ng who now owns a large collection of crystals with her first purchase made in May 2021.
An article by Channel News Asia (CNA) states that the market for the crystal industry is “worth between $1.36 billion to $2 billion”.
Ms Ng attributes this to crystals making a comeback as a form of fashion and trendiness. Despite this, she thinks that crystals can mean different things to different people. “It honestly depends on the situation, some people may think of it as an accessory, but some may also see it as a manifesting stone.”
In her case, crystals have made a positive impact on her life. “Collecting crystals have helped me to gain more confidence and really attract love, like self-love and appreciate the little things in life.”
A place where Cheryl stores her crystals to sell.
(Photo courtesy of Ms Cheryl Chia)
Ms Cheryl Chia, 19, is another seller who recently opened her online shop in September 2021. Her journey from a buyer to a seller began when she bought crystals for the first time. She was disappointed in the overall lack of quality of the crystals, poor pricing and bad customer service. “I was still earning my own money through Twitch and it wasn’t very easy so spending all that money made me feel like it wasn’t worthwhile and I felt like I was getting scammed basically.”
This negative experience drove her to open her own shop and make a difference in the industry.
Ms Chia said, “I want to make the crystal community a fun place where everyone can shop regardless of how much money they had as long as they love collecting crystals, that there will always be something available for them.”
After doing extensive research of her own, she then mentioned that some things that may dictate the price of a crystal are the “country of origin, the rarity of the crystal and the size of the crystals.”
Mr David Leong, crystal seller, who has been in the trade for about 30 years said that retail shops offer more authenticity and credibility as compared to the influx of online crystal shops where customers are forced to make a purchase without being able to inspect the crystals. “The retail shops, you go to see the crystals, you can have more choice on when to buy. When you buy online, you have no choice but to pay (immediately).”
Mr Leong added that retail shops provide more assistance to first-time buyers as they will help to check with their customers the reasons they may want to buy a crystal as well as areas pertaining to Chinese geomancy such as their birth month.
Despite the trend of buying crystals merely for the sake of trendiness and fashion, David does not think of it as a negative thing. He said, “Whatever they want, we'll just try to recommend them.”
With so many people buying crystals now for different reasons, what will you use your crystals for?