Crystal Shops and Shopping for Crystals in Estonia

Materiality and Experience as Sources of Value

Bibliographic Data

ID9205929
AuthorsTenno Teidearu (0000-0002-4580-637X, Research Department, Estonian National Museum Tartu Estonia, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume70
Issue5-6
Pages514-541
Publication date2023-09-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNumen (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0029-5973 • E-ISSN: 1568-5276
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/15685276-20231704
OpenAlexW4386514937
LanguageEN
References cited19

This article concentrates on crystal shops and shopping for crystals in Estonia. Consumption and commerce are inherent parts of New Spirituality. Crystals became the most salient commodities in esoteric shops during the 2010s, most of the shops having become “crystal shops” in Estonia. The aim of this article is to analyze the meaning-making potential of the materiality of crystals in shopping, and the material and sensuous aspects of crystal shops. From the perspective of material culture and consumption studies, this case study proposes that crystals are valuable in shopping primarily because of their materiality as a source of meaning and experience. In choosing crystals, people follow their material form and material qualities instead of a textual description of their supportive effects. Crystal shops are generally described as therapeutic places, however as an “experiencescape” they are strictly sensuous and material places

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Consumption (sociology) · Crystal (programming language) · Crystal habit · Epistemology · Materiality (auditing) · Meaning (existential) · Salient · Sociology · Spirituality · Value (mathematics) · Art, Politics, and Modernism · Chemical Engineering · Computer Science · Engineering · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · History · Philosophy

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