Vidri Arte

Shop all Vidri Arte products

(Update, 2008 from Vidri Arte's Fernando Montano)

Getting to know you and becoming part of your beautiful mission has been a great experience for us. You make us feel we're not alone and encourage us to do what we love. This is reflected in our sales, which are now constant, allowing us to work year-round. We have been receiving so many orders that we've been able to employ assistant artisans, and we have chosen to employ artisans with physical disabilities, so they may have an opportunity to contribute to their family's income, and become financially independent.

Aside from the economic aspects, you have enabled us to promote our little-known process of glasswork. You offer us a place from which we can reach people who are searching for something authentic, something that is deeply ingrained in our Mexican heritage.

Original Artisan Story

With our work, we want to make this project self supporting. 'Don't give a man a fish, but teach him to fish' is our guiding philosophy. Work is essential in a person's formation, and this is why we've begun a workshop to produce handicrafts in glass as the first stage of a project that will lead us to attain our complete ideal. In this stage, we have hired deaf people, taught them a trade and we pay them a salary. They receive all the perquisites required by law, they participate in the system of socialized medicine for working people (IMSS) and they can earn weekly bonuses and prizes. We assist them with their audiometric exams and help them acquire hearing aids.

We also give jobs to pregnant women from the 'Vida y Familia A.C.' shelter. These are people who for a number of reasons – rape, abandonment, family violence, etc. – are living at the shelter, and it is impossible for them to find a job to save money for when the baby is born. We are also working hand in hand with the state's Family Development Agency (DIF), that aids people with different kinds of handicaps.

The final objective is a simple one – to be happy. For our employees, our goal is to offer them an education and help them develop as people of integrity with positive attitudes, aptitudes and values. We want them to be able to contribute to the development of others, of their community, city and country.

Vidri Arte came about as a reaction to the reality in which we live as we seek coherence and congruence in our own lives. Since we were children we've learned certain beliefs and a scale of values. We've also had experiences that showed us the extreme reality some people face. This made us stop and realize how our friends graduate from college programmed to find the best possible job, the best position in a prestigious company. But, after searching our own hearts, after questioning our reason for living, we asked what we could do and where our acts would take us. Happiness? Fulfillment? I think everyone asks these questions, but the difference is this – do we go with the flow? Or do we try to achieve congruence and coherence in our lives?

Our fundamental mission in Vidri Arte is to train people with attitudes, aptitudes and values for the common good. We want our endeavor to be an innovator. We want to help those less fortunate by contributing to their personal success and help them generate and administer economic resources.

To achieve this, Vidri Arte hopes to create a new business philosophy by demonstrating that this is a viable style of life, a way to be happy. We want to promote the development of our personnel, to be a business with a social conscience, committed to the development of our community and our country. We produce and merchandise handicrafts in glass.

Our slogan is 'Light Through Glass.' Its meaning is twofold. First, when light passes through glass, it makes the product look more beautiful. Secondly, through our work in glass, we want to offer light and hope to others.

In this group photo, the members of Vidri Arte are signing hola.

Shop all NOVICA products

NOVICA was started with a dream to create a better world for artisans, because a better world for artisans is a better world for all.

Along the way, the founders of NOVICA discovered something very important - as artisans around the world succeeded, there was also a visible and profound impact on the communities around them.

Your purchases are that powerful. They directly and indirectly provide for education, help with health care, fund basic needs, support children, preserve disappearing arts, and of course, spread happiness around the world.

The founders of NOVICA had a vision of the future that is not one of mega factories producing cookie cutter products for all to cheaply consume. Instead, a bright future that celebrates artisans who take the time to create an item by hand. A future where time is protected, where stories are told, where unique details are honored. Love, respect, inclusiveness become driving force.

For best chance of delivery for Christmas, place orders using Standard Shipping by December 14th. United States shipping only. Expedited shipping is unavailable. Allow for 1-2 days extra processing time. This product may ship separately from other products in your order and may have longer than normal shipping timelines as it will ship directly from its country of origin.

All sales of this product are final -- we do not accept returns or issue replacements unless there is a defect with the product. Please review our Returns & Exchanges policy.