Those agate slices you need for your wedding?
We're not saying you have to know the guy who mined the stones... but you have to know he's safe.
Agate slices are pretty. They're all over Pinterest and calligraphers love them. But we're asking you not to make careless choices in your wedding styling.
Please: take a moment to care about the items you source.
Where are they from? More specifically, who works there, and are they ok?
If they're "just from Amazon" that really doesn't cut it, by the way.
Agate is mined all over the world from America to Germany, India, Russia and Brazil.
When buying agate for weddings, couples need to consider where it's come from: has it been mined by someone whose working conditions are safe, and who has freedom and choice?
Ultimately, you should be sure the pretty stones you want for your wedding are causing no harm.
We don't use agate for our wedding place settings, and we never have. Full disclosure: we tried them once, but somsething didn't feel right about buying in bulk and selling them with calligraphy on.
There's always an alternative for couples looking for more sustainable wedding choices.
Our wedding place names are written on FSC certified paper made in the UK. Our silk ribbons are handmade in the UK, and our white ribbon is peace silk from a UK manufacturer.
We're not perfect: paper production has an impact on the environment too. But it does feel safer and more ethical to avoid things like agate for wedding place names, when we can't trace it back to the source.
Further reading: https://india.mongabay.com/2020/07/indias-mining-sector-present-is-tense-and-future-could-be-imperfect/
https://www.howden.com/en-gb/articles/mining/we-need-to-talk-about-mining