Los Angeles cool-kid couple Heather Haber and Remington Guest — she’s an Otis College of Art and Design grad and former Band of Outsiders intern who had her own apparel line and he’s a former Band staffer — are bringing their Millennial take to the hippie-dippy world of crystals by launching Advisory Board Crystals, a direct-to-consumer e-tail platform offering nonwearable talismans and home decor pieces, as well as one-off T-shirts.
While the venture will live online only — the pair work out of Haber’s Silver Lake apartment — ABC will have a brick-and-mortar presence through partnerships with hip retailers such as L.A.’s Union, which will collaborate on a limited-edition shirt hand-dyed to resemble a crystal.
Haber and Guest, who met in an Uber Pool car, formed the company to turn their generation on to the power of the earth-bound rocks. “So many people think of crystals as kooky old bohemian, but a lot of young people like us think they are cool, but there’s no one marketing to them,” Guest said. “We decided to approach it like a fashion company, and curate a ‘collection’ of stones each season based on themes and colors,” added Haber.
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The debut collection, titled “What Took You So Long?” features hand-selected labradorite, chrysocolla, rose quartz, pyrite and moonstone, all of which are available as individual talismans retailing from $4 to $15 individually or $42 for the set. Customers can access the online shop at advisoryboardcrystals.com using the password “IWASLOOKINGFORYOU.”
The larger pieces start at $20 and go up to $1,750 depending on size and shape. The Web site classifies these two categories as “Science,” as in the health and well-being benefits of carrying such small stones, and “Art” for the decorative aspects.
That branding exercise, fleshed out on the Web site with mood boards, a playlist and lengthy conversational text, extends to the packaging that customers receive in the mail. All items come shrink-wrapped in Space Age-style clear plastic pouches — think science kits sold in a natural history museum gift store — printed with explanations of the powers of each stone, hence, the “advisory” component. The talisman collection and T-shirt are also available as a set packaged in a reuseable trifold envelope constructed from silver Kevlar. Guest showed up toting one as a man bag. (Instructions for how to attach the nylon packing strap are thoughtfully included.) “We’re very eco-conscious and want to offer things that people find useful and functional as well as fun,” he noted.