CHAKRAGEMSART Pvt Ltd
640/3 Ozran - Little Vagator - Bardez Goa - India
www.chakragemsart.com
contact: [email protected] [email protected]
Tel: 91 0832 3291090 / Mob: 9922539001
Over 10 years we have perfected our work producing amazing jewellery, magical healing tools ( Lot of wands...massage and ornamental) and beautiful practical items such as books, mirrors, candles and incense stands. All our products use hand crafted, genuine gemstones and crystals from around the world. We have combined this with a specially developed/made resin. Then with the artwork we produce our own unique design.
The Pixies staff , here at our Online internet office
www.chakragemsart.com
, is constantly searching the World and all of India to bring you the hottest deals on top quality gemstones products.
By utilizing our wholesale direct relationships, we are able to offer one of the most exciting selections of products, particularly magic wands and other magic products, that you'll not find on the Internet... all at unbeatable prices!
Chakra Gems products are available for wholesale export around the world.
Garry Castro is the owner and proprietor of Chakra Gems ART, a company representing artists specializing in crystal art, design and distribution based in Goa, India.
When were you first atracted to crystals?
I've been collecting crystals all my life, and certainly since i was about 6! My dad was a collector of all sorts of things, so it was probably in my genes. We used to go on holiday to Newquay in Cornwall where there was a crystal shop called Willy's Kitty: the first crystal i bought was a small milky quartz, which i still have today. I also had a small tumbling machine at home in Margate, and used to tumble the local flints found on the beach - believe it or not, they are really beautiful when they are polished. There seemed to be more crystal shops around when i was a kid, so collecting was easy. Nowadays you don't see so many, or else they are more generalist "new age" type shops which sell crystals along with a wide range of other products.
When did you start selling crystals?
Like the rest of us, life intervened in my teens and early twenties, so crystals took a bit of a back seat then. I was running a successful business and the pressure was on: bills, mortgages, you know the sort of thing i mean! I was in my late 20s when i started to have a change of heart and realized that this life wasn't for me. I gave up the business and went travelling, ending up in Greece where i started selling crystals on street corners to make a little money. It was there i met a chap who seemed to know everything there was to know about crystals: it's probably true to say thgat everything i know ab!out crystals now began with his teachings. We travelled across Europe, including Switzerlands, Spain and the Canary Islands, selling crystals. While he was a good teacher, he was also rather unscrupulous(!), so eventually we parted company. Most of the crystals I was selling came via India, so i decided to go there myself to get my stock. The first time i went was in 1991: it was only supposed to be for two weeks, but i ended up staying for six months! That's where i really got into making my owns items, including the resin work and silver jewelry - there is a lot of space for creativity in India. For several years i used to spend 6 months in India creating and a making my designs, then 6 months travelling back to Spain and Tenerife to sell my wares.
Where you based in Goa at that time?
I originally went to the gemstone markets of Jaipur, in Rajastan which is in North India. It all started many years ago with the emerald mines in the area, but there are now about 3000 gemstones cutters there and it's the biggest centre in the world for the crystal and gemstone trade. There are lots of stones and crystals on the Indian sub-continent itself, but crystals are also shipped in from other parts of the world like Africa and Australia to be cut in Jaipur, then sent back . I settledin Pushkar, selling crystals, wands and my other designs in the back of a friend's restaurant. After a while the business started to build, but it was a slow process. I made my first trip to Goa in 1999, again selling my wares in the local market. That's where i met my future wife§ She wasn't very keen on Pushkar and Rajasthan: stone cutting isn't an esoteric trade but a highmy competitive business, so in 2000 we settled in Goa, which has a much more relaxed and cosmopolitan fell to it. We're now based in the marketplace in Goa and a good day we can have 6-7,000 people passing our shop.
What kind of products do you have now?
We currently have about 200 products lines and thousands of crystals, but it's changing all the times as new designs are created. We have a whole range of healing wands, pendants of various types, chakra sets , an interesting range of acupressure tools, books covers, crystal stands - all sorts of things! One of my favourites is the crystal runes: each has a different crystal on it which works together really well with the energy of the symbol- they can be very powerful and are one of our best selling lines. We're always open to new ideas and will try almost anything.
Are you aware of any crystals which are becoming scarce?
That's an interesting question. The reasons for scarcity are varied: as unethical mining - using children and/or hard manual labour - becomes less acceptable, many smaller mines in India ( and to a certain extent, across the world) are being closed down. Others mines, such as the zeolite mines in Poona, are closing down because they are becoming uneconomical, as the stones become more and more inaccessible. Some stones are being deliberately stockpiled to increase their value - diamonds are the prime example of this - and some others are being bought up in huge quantities by particular traders for the same reason. I've also noticed that altered and synthetic stones are more widely available: the problem with this is that the cost of testing is generally prohibitive, so it can often be difficult to check. That said, the quality of some rose quartz has been diminishing in recent years - i've noticed that it's much paler than it used to be. I had heard that amethyst was becoming more scarce, but a friend of mine has recently purchased a couple of tonnes of it from brazil so it can't be that bad!
What's your favorite crystal?
Well, lapis lazuli has just popped into my head, although in the grand scheme of things it's tricky to say as there are so many lovely crystals! What i like about lapis is its amazing history and all the stories about its powers - that the pyramids were lined with it, how only the pharaons could own it not us mre mortals, how it was worth far more than gold. Its also interesting to note that the main lapis mines are in Afghanaistan, and there are some who claim that it was the power of the lapis that kept the Russian invasion at bay for so long - but who is to say?!
What are your plans for the business?
Obviously i'd love the business to continue to grow and expand. I have 10 local women working together at the moment: it's very much a family atmosphere but a very important step for them both socially and economically. One of my dreams is taht they will all go on to become managers in their own right, teach others their skills and extend the business. I've also been in discussions with a large local company to develop some of the designs into a recognized art form with formal training, but its early days yet. We're now exporting our products all over the world: i am pleased to say even to Taiwan! I've also got plans for a new venture in the pipeline, which i hope will dovetail very well with the current business - but i won't say any more about that at the moment!
When i was a kid i always dreamed of building a castle in the air so who knows - perhaps i'll finally build my crystal castle and live in it with my family and friends!
Garry Castro 2007
Web: www.chakragemsart.com
Email: [email protected]