Frequently Asked
Questions

We take the subject of cultural appropriation very seriously. We understand the pain and anger that accompany this issue. At Verve Culture we acknowledge and honor the country of origin, and purchase the products directly from the skilled artisans that make them. Our mission is to use our expertise in global distribution to provide a direct route to the U.S. consumer that our suppliers may find difficult to access otherwise.

As a company, we strive to educate U.S. consumers via cultural exchange. The culture isn’t ours to take, it is ours to learn about and embrace. We believe the more we learn and share with each other, the more harmonious our world will be.

Straight from the Artisans

“Verve Culture is an important ally that helps us share our culture.” – Ana, Mexican chocolate maker

“When developing their designs, we feel identified by the way they represent the Mexican blown glass we love.” – Javier, Glassblower

“Thanks to VERVE Culture, our product reaches more American households every day!” – Gilberto, aluminum and cast iron artisan

“I love the vitality, passion and commitment they have had to develop and grow this incredible project, bringing the essence of artisans and culture from Mexico to other countries.” – Antonio, export coordinator

“Verve can help promote our traditional Thai products so that more people, especially in the USA , can enjoy and benefit from our herbal products.” – Duangjai, Thai herbal specialist

“I have the pleasure of sharing the culture of Mexico, reflected in my crafts.” – Rodolfo, ceramics artisan

Our local artisan suppliers set the price for what they sell us. They determine this by the cost of raw materials, the labor required to produce, and their required profit margin. We collaborate with the artisans to refine the products for the U.S. market, which usually results in increased labor or material costs and therefore higher value orders.

No. We do not own the artisan workshops, they do. Our artisan partners are free to sell to anyone else at anytime. There are no binding contracts with us. Since launching Verve Culture, we have continued to maintain wonderful relationships with the artisans and are only growing together. We are honored these incredibly talented, international artisans have chosen to work with us.

Straight from the artisans

“Since we started working with Verve Culture, we have been able to think about long-term commitments, because they have always fulfilled what they offer. We used to be 10 people in our workshop and now we are 35 people working." – Maximo, aluminum artisan

“For the entire team of Chocolate de la Villa Real, working with Verve Culture has been the perfect opportunity to continue learning and improving both the quality and presentation of our chocolates.” – Ana, chocolate maker

“Verve Culture’s team always denotes ‘responsibility and honesty in all its processes.” – Javier, glassblower

With global tourism grinding to a halt during the pandemic, we have quickly become many of the artisans’ biggest customer. Our suppliers have told us that if they didn’t have our orders, it would be very difficult for them to sustain their operations. Verve Cultulre's growing orders allow them to increase employment in their villages through hiring more staff and buying upgraded equipment to make manufacturing more efficient.

We are doing everything we can to ensure they are able to continue to sell their products at this extremely challenging time, including providing masks, sanitizer, and other PPE as needed.

Straight from the Artisans

“During the Covid-19 situation, Verve Culture showed us great support by maintaining a constant flow of purchase orders, which allowed us to continue producing thanks to its payments made in a timely manner.” – Javier, glassblower

“Thanks to Verve Culture, our work was not very affected during this pandemic. We continue working under all the corresponding sanitary measures, thus benefiting more than 7 Tonaltec artisan families.” Rodolfo, ceramics artisan

“We are a team of 10 people who, despite the COVID-19 situation, have worked constantly and have given us economic solvency in times of crisis thanks to Verve Culture.” – Ana, Mexican chocolate maker

“Verve Culture has been a big part of support for our suppliers since Covid started. All local markets and stores that sold handicrafts were totally closed…but VC has kept giving orders and this helped the suppliers continue producing through this difficult time.” Grecia, export coordinator

This varies by product. We deliberately select premium quality products in Mexico to sell in the US. We will often enhance the product by including things like recipes, instructions, and a history of the product as a way of educating our consumers. As our products are often used as gifts we also ensure they are presented beautifully.

YES AND YES – many ceramics from Mexico imported into the USA are not lead-free. All of our products are lead free and all of them are approved through the FDA inspection process.

Many of our products are created with either with recycled materials or local materials. Most woods and other materials are also indigenous to the area.