Our Story
We are a young Chinese couple, Cecilia Chen and Oliver Sun.
FolkMake started with the two of us taking small trips inside China, walking into markets and tiny studios, and quietly falling in love with the pieces we found there: earrings assembled at a workbench, lacquer inlay done in a family workshop, handwoven fabric that took weeks to finish.
Very often, these works were beautiful but almost invisible to the wider world. The makers were busy creating, not thinking about photos, English descriptions or how to ship overseas. It felt unfair that so much care and skill stayed hidden.
FolkMake is our way of changing that. We focus on handmade jewelry, accessories, decor and bags created in China by independent artisans and studios. We visit their spaces, talk through materials and techniques, test how each piece feels to wear or use in real life, and only then decide what can carry the FolkMake name.
Over time, we also saw that people were not only looking for handmade pieces, but for how those pieces could make them feel in daily life. That is why we now arrange our collections by intention: for calm and protection, for luck and new beginnings, for love and connection, for strength and confidence, for abundance and gratitude, and for healing and comfort, so it is easier to find the kind of comfort or blessing you are hoping for.
Everything you see in our shop has passed through our own hands first, chosen because it feels honest, well made and worth living with for a long time, not because it follows a trend or can be mass produced.
Why It Matters
Buying from FolkMake is not the same as buying from a large marketplace. Every piece here connects at least three stories - yours, the maker's and the craft itself - and often a fourth, the intention you choose it for.
For the maker, your order is more than a payment. It is proof that their ideas, patience and skills are seen and appreciated far beyond their hometown. It gives them confidence to keep creating, to pass techniques on and to invest in better tools and materials.
For you, a handmade piece carries a different weight. You know who made it, where it comes from and how it was crafted. You also decide what you want it to stand for, whether that is calm and protection, luck and new beginnings, love and connection, strength and confidence, abundance and gratitude, or healing and comfort. When you wear it, place it on your desk or give it as a gift, you are sharing a real person's work and a small piece of Chinese culture, not just a product from an unknown factory.
For the craft itself, each purchase is a small vote for slowness, originality and care. Instead of rewarding speed and volume, you are choosing time, detail and story. That choice, repeated by many people over time, is what keeps these crafts alive.
We keep our pricing fair so that artisans are properly paid and you receive work that feels worthy of its cost. Our role is to stand in the middle, translate between two worlds, explain clearly what each piece is for and make it easy and safe for you to welcome these handmade pieces into your life.