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The Story · The Studio · 传统手工

A life devoted
to craft.

以手为心 · 以物传情

Lina Artisanal is not simply a shop. It is a living archive — built piece by piece, journey by journey, by a woman who believed that what hands make with love should never disappear.

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How It Began

Born in Montréal.
Shaped by the East.

以手为心 · 代代相传

Lina grew up in Montréal in a home where beautiful things were treated with intention. Her mother collected small ceramics; her grandmother mended textiles rather than replacing them. From an early age, Lina understood that an object made by hand held something a factory-made thing never could — evidence of a human being, present in every mark.

"I remember holding a tea bowl my mother had brought from Fujian. It was warm in my hands in a way that had nothing to do with temperature. That stayed with me."

— Lina, Founder

After studying fine arts in Montréal and spending three formative years in Kyoto on an arts residency, Lina returned to Québec with a singular conviction: that the makers she had met — the potters, the lacquer masters, the weavers — deserved a way to reach people who would truly receive their work.

"
"I have never sold an object. I have only ever helped something beautiful find the hands it was made for."
Lina
Founder · Lina Artisanal · Montréal, Québec
What Guides Us

Six principles of honest craft

Provenance
Every piece can be traced to its maker, its material, and its tradition. Nothing we carry is anonymous. We believe you deserve to know the full story of what you hold.
Slowness
A woven textile takes weeks. A lacquered tray takes months, built layer by layer. We do not rush our makers and we do not rush our sourcing. Good things accumulate slowly.
Honesty
What you see is what was made. We don't commission reproductions or imitations. We carry originals — things that exist because a particular person made them with particular care.
Lineage
The makers we work with are not hobbyists. They carry techniques passed from parent to child, from master to apprentice, over generations. We carry that lineage into every home.
Purpose
These are not merely decorative objects. They were made to be used — to hold food, to carry things, to adorn a table. Use them. That is what they were made for.
Restraint
We carry few pieces. We work with few makers. We send few letters. Restraint is not a limitation — it is the condition under which something truly good can be found and kept.
The Studio's Path

A history of slow work

Early Years

A childhood of beautiful things

Growing up in Montréal, Lina watches her mother arrange small ceramics on the windowsill each morning. She doesn't know it yet, but she is learning to look — really look — at objects made by hand.

Kyoto

Three years in Japan

An arts residency in Kyoto changes everything. Lina spends mornings in the studio and afternoons visiting makers — a lacquer family in Fukuoka, a ceramicist in Mashiko, a textile atelier in Nishijin. She fills notebooks. She asks questions. She listens.

The Return

Back to Montréal with a mission

Lina returns to Québec with a small collection of pieces given to her by the makers she had befriended, and a clear sense of purpose. She begins sharing them quietly — through word of mouth, through a table at a local market. Every piece finds a home.

Lina Artisanal

The studio opens

Lina Artisanal launches — not with advertising, but with a handwritten letter sent to a few hundred people who had expressed interest. The first collection sells out before the end of the month. She calls every buyer to say thank you.

Today

Sixteen pieces. One maker at a time.

The studio now works with a small, carefully chosen group of artisans across East and Southeast Asia. Each collection is curated personally by Lina. She still writes the letters herself. And she still calls to say thank you.

The Makers

Real people.
Centuries of skill in their hands.

匠心独运 · 代代相传

Lina does not work with factories or wholesale suppliers. Every maker in the studio's network is an individual or a small family operation. Most learned their craft from a parent. Several carry traditions that stretch back generations.

She visits each maker personally. She pays above market rate, always — no negotiation, no pressure on volume. She never asks for more than a maker chooses to produce.

"We are not a marketplace. We are a relationship — between makers who care deeply and people who want to receive that care."

— Lina
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Get in Touch

Find a piece.
Write to us.

与我们联系

Lina reads every message personally and responds to each one, usually within a few days. For questions about specific pieces, the makers, care and maintenance, or custom requests — write directly.

Studio Letters

Stay connected

春意相连 · 一信传情

A few quiet letters a year — new arrivals, maker profiles, stories from the studio. No noise. Subscribers hear first and receive 10% off their first order.

A few letters a year. Unsubscribe any time.

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"The letters alone are worth it — she writes about craft the way others write about love."

— Isabelle R., subscriber since 2012