The Lucuma Blog

Born on a ranch in Callao, Peru, Richard picked up his love for ceramics thanks to his older brother, Victor. Read more...

The Beauty of Simplicity at Play

The Beauty of Simplicity at Play Why Less Is More: How Simple Toys Spark Big Imaginations There’s a quiet revolution happening in the toy market and playrooms everywhere as families... Read more...

Finger Puppets – Little Tokens of Friendship

Finger Puppets – Little Tokens of Friendship That Sell Big There’s something timeless about the joy of giving and receiving a small, heartfelt gift. These hand-knitted finger puppets capture that... Read more...

Handmade Valentine’s Gift Ideas to Win Hearts

Handmade Valentine’s Gift Ideas to Win Hearts Handmade gifts bring a touch of soul, a dash of tradition, and a whole lot of love to every occasion. They’re the... Read more...

Nonviolent Communication - Empathy in Action a practical method for the times

During these complicated times, when it feels like almost every discussion can turn into an angry debate, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a communication method that offers a refreshing approach. Read more...

Why Fair Trade?

Why Fair Trade? A Meaningful Way to Do Business Fair Trade offers a powerful way for you as a store buyer and consumers alike to take action against global inequality,... Read more...

Hurricane Milton Came to Town

Hurricane Milton Came to Town +++ 10/17/24 After Milton Update Thank you everyone who has been asking about us. We're now open and catching up on orders. On Wednesday night,... Read more...

A Finger Puppet Theater Brought to Life

At Lucuma Designs, we believe in fostering children’s creativity through imaginative, hands-on play. That’s why we created the Finger Puppet Theater, designed to offer the perfect backdrop for little ones... Read more...

Fair Trade Principles: Honoring All People

Fair Trade Principle 9: Respect the Cultural, Racial, and Ethnic Identity How do we practice it? Read more...

Earth Day Everyday - Loving our 1% for the Planet Commitment

Earth Day Everyday 2024 Loving our 1% for the Planet Commitment With love for our Mother Earth and all earthlings, each year Lucuma Designs commits to donate at least 1%... Read more...

Percy Rojas - Workshop Visit February 2024

Greetings from the Lima workshop of Percy Rojas, enthusiastic and innovative gourd artist! Recently we visited Percy and his five collaborators to learn about them. They make painted ornaments, bird... Read more...

That's a wrap! The 20th Annual Rainforest Masks exhibit showcasing Borucan art closed with happy visitors and great sales.

Lucuma Designs, known for its commitment to showcasing distinctive art forms, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the annual exhibit of rainforest masks from Costa Rica at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, FL... Read more...

Boruca Rainforest Masks Return to Selby Gardens Jan 2024

We're gearing up for the next show of Rainforest Masks at Selby Gardens in January 2024. This will be the 20th Exhibit at the gardens, and visitors will be able... Read more...

Our Original Gourd Santas Have a Story to Tell!

Back in 2005, our new teammate, Amanda Pierce, set out to draw an intricate Santa Claus. From there, Rodolfo translated the drawing to a gourd, and Lizzet carved the amazing... Read more...

Benjamin Pizarro, Alabaster Artist

Benjamin has been considered a professional sculptor since age 14 and has since blossomed into an internationally-known alabaster stone carver. His works range from small crafts to grand religious and... Read more...

Women Rock, Happy Women’s Day!

Today we celebrate the strength, resilience, courage, creativity and love of women everywhere! On this International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023, we want to honor the talented women who create... Read more...

Boruca Exhibition 2023

Rainsforest Masks of Costa Rica 2023 Starting the year with one of our most important exhibitions The Rainforest Masks of Costa Rica exhibition highlights the artistry of the Indigenous Boruca... Read more...

Planting Fruit Trees

Boruca, Costa Rica - Our Fruit Tree Planting project is now in its third year and since 2020, Lucuma Designs has contributed with over 200 fruit trees benefiting over 50... Read more...

Domingo Rojas Morales, Borucan Artist

Domingo’s work has a distinctive and uplifting boldness. Read more...

Bernardino Arce is an Amauta!

It is always a pleasure to collaborate with master ceramist Bernardino Arce, the creator of our mini bird plant pots and watering bird pals. And we are thrilled that a... Read more...

Artist Update and Cost of Living in Peru, January 2022

Looking back to 2021, we can’t help but feeling grateful for everything our artist partners were able to accomplish. Last year was extremely challenging for artists and small businesses, especially... Read more...

Trees Water People

Doing Good: They work in Central America planting trees, installing fuel efficient and safe cooking stoves and empowering communities. Now, we like them even more as they have started a... Read more...

American Bird Conservancy

The good they do: This organization provides needed advocacy and protection for bird species and habitats in the Americas. Read more...

Seed Saver’s Exchange

Doing Good: We love their mission of seed sovereignty as a way to promote biodiversity to benefit us all. Read more...

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

The good they do: Sea Shepherd works tirelessly to protect precious marine life and fight illegal and destructive actions that threaten the health of our oceans. Read more...

Fair Trade Together for Pollinators

Look and shop a variety of inspired-by-pollinators goodies brought to you by compassionate businesses from the FairTradeFederation.org (product directory under each photo). Read more...

Buzz-Worldly Bee Gifts!

As conscious consumers, honoring our connection with all life on Earth may start as simply as falling in love with a handcrafted, bee-inspired gift or two! Tasting honey could open... Read more...

Loving Our Bees!

Every time we bite into a crispy apple, a fragrant apricot, a juicy strawberry or tomato, we have some bees to thank! As champion pollinators, honeybees and about 20,000 native... Read more...

Gratitude Gourd Box Video

A place where we can all share the good things happening in our lives right now despite our difficulties. May you be inspired to start your own Gratitude Box with... Read more...

Play & Learn with Finger Puppets

Get your earth-friendly organic cotton or alpaca wool hand-knitted finger puppets for hours of fun play -OR- make your own out of paper! Just download our free finger puppet printable... Read more...

DIY Printable Farm Finger Puppets

Download a PDF for these fun farm paper finger puppets of a cow, horse, pig and more! Print on cardstock or heavy paper (8.5x11”) and cut along the dotted lines.... Read more...

Bernardino, Ceramic Artist, Arequipa, Perú 4/27/20

There’s a feeling of deep satisfaction when you bring something handmade into your life that you know brought good to the artist, the community and the earth. Fair trade is... Read more...

The Gratitude Box Project - April / Caja De Gratitud

This Community Gratitude Box is a space where our teams, artists and clients can share what really matters right now. With this, we hope to bring our communities closer and... Read more...

Updates from Our Artists and Team

As an international fair trade company, we’re concerned about all the lives that Covid-19 is impacting. Like we all know, the virus is changing every aspect of life and work,... Read more...

DIY Printable Fairy Tale Finger Puppets

Download a PDF for these fun fairy tale paper finger puppets of royalty, magic, dragons and more! Print on cardstock or heavy paper (8.5x11”) and cut along the dotted lines.... Read more...

DIY Printable Classic Tale Finger Puppets

Download a PDF for these fun fairy tale paper finger puppets of royalty, magic, dragons and more! Print on cardstock or heavy paper (8.5x11”) and cut along the dotted lines.... Read more...

Lucuma Gratitude Box - March / Caja De Gratitud

Creating a Gratitude Box to giving thanks is a practice anyone can do at home, individually or as a family! Giving thanks helps us shift gears from our worried mind... Read more...

Staying Healthy and Positive in a Time of Crisis

The global health crisis and emotional turmoil we are collectively facing is rocking our world. Everything is changing and last week’s priorities seem today irrelevant. With our new realities shifting by the hour, we are grasping to understand what next. While conscious of the hardship, sadness and pain this Covid-19 virus threat brings us, we must remain positive and calm so we can see beyond its ugliness. This world pandemic is making it easier to see how interconnected we are. It is inspiring g Read more...

Trending in 2020

In these technologically driven times, life seems to keep accelerating and changes happen at an incredible speed, at a personal, collective and planetary level. By identifying what shoppers’ needs are... Read more...

Why Scary Masks?

For Borucans, these masks symbolize protective nature spirits. Masks have a special place in their hearts because they saved the very existence of their ancestors and culture. Read more...

Melvin Gonzalez Rojas, Borucan Artist

As an accomplished and recognized Borucan artist, Melvin likes to challenge himself. Over the past few years he has transitioned to painting more often on canvas than on balsa wood. Read more...

Modern Masks

For Borucans, these masks symbolize protective nature spirits. Masks have a special place in their hearts because they saved the very existence of their ancestors and culture. Read more...

Rudy Gomez, Borucan Artist

Rudy is one of the youngest fine-carving artists. He eagerly learns new carving tricks. Most often, a mask artist will bring him a balsa wood log with a design drawn... Read more...

Sugey Jimenez Acosta, Borucan Artist

Sugey started playing with paint brushes at a young age inspired by her godmother. After marrying Marcos in 2005, she easily picked up new techniques from him while falling in... Read more...

Women and Boruca Masks

Traditionally, and for generations, mask making has been a male dominated activity. Only very recently, some women in Boruca have become interested in painting masks but it is still rare... Read more...

Ismael González Rojas, Borucan Artist

Ismael started carving at a young age and is one of the few artists in Boruca still working with cedar wood. Read more...

Loly, Maria De Los Santos, Borucan Artist

Loly dries and boils the jicara fruit for hours to cure and clean it. Then she envisions her animal, carving the legs, head and tail in balsa wood. Her grandson... Read more...

Meet New Ceramic Artist Bernardino

Bernardino Arce comes from a family of ceramic artists. He runs his own workshop where he creates our new water birds. He enjoys creating colorful marble patterns on them using... Read more...

Healing our World Through the Beauty of Fair Trade

Fair Trade gifts have a magical power to open our hearts by creating meaningful connections between us conscious consumers and crafters far away. They help us get in touch with... Read more...

Store Sign For Organic Cotton Finger Puppets

Organic cotton is growing in popularity and here is why! Read more...

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