Maravillas: Keeping the culture alive

Maravillas:

Keeping the culture alive

Photo by Amira Van Leeuwen

Calaveras painted from Guanajuato.

By Amira Van Leeuwen

Contributed photo

Bird from Guanajato. C ynthia Martinez communicates with artisans across the border to supply her small business, Maravillas, located at 11525 Menchaca Rd #104 in Austin, with unique, handmade Mexican products.

Martinez purchases bags, textiles, hats and clothing from artisans in several states in Mexico: Chihuahua, Puebla, Queretaro, Wahaka, Guanajuato, Chipasa and Jalisco. She purchases clothing items and ornaments from Puebla and Chipasa, and most of her dolls come from Queretaro. Martinez also buys many skulls from Guanajuato.

But sometimes, it takes her days or even weeks to research the items she wants.

When considering what kinds of products to fill her shop, Martinez looks at color and quality.

“I am drawn to what’s unique,” Martinez said.

Much of Maravilla’s customer base is from Kyle, Buda, San Antonio, Round Rock, Edinburg and other parts of the Valley.

Martinez feels like the items she sells draw out memories and gives people a space to appreciate their culture.

“I feel like we’re keeping the culture alive. We’re keeping that pride, those memories — we’re reigniting those memories for a lot of people when they see our stuff. It reminds them of how wonderful even the smallest little thing can trigger those beautiful memories,” Martinez said.

“Every person who comes to my booth will be like, ‘Oh my God, my mom used to have that.’ I have kids going, ‘I just ate that today,’” Martinez said, referring to her pan dulce keychains. “I swear, everyone has some type of connection to what I have.”

When working with the artisans, Martinez emphasizes the importance of honesty and keeping your word.

Martinez remembers there was once an artist who, after immediately getting paid, came up with a story as to why she couldn’t give Martinez her product. At the time, Martinez was in disbelief.

“It was a good amount of money,” Martinez said. “I remember feeling like, ‘I don’t know if I wanna do this. This is risky.’”

Martinez said she told one of the artists she worked with the second time that she would order from her but asked if the artist could send Martinez a photo of the product she was ordering to ensure she had it.

She asked Martinez if everything was okay, and Martinez was honest and told her that she had been stiffed and was trying to be careful. The artisan said, “You know, I hope you know that

Contributed photo

Muñeca Lele, a traditional doll from Queretaro.

“Every person who comes to my booth will be like, ‘Oh my God, my mom used to have that.’ I have kids going, ‘I just ate that today,’”

Contributed photo

Handmade palm bead rosaries with hand painted crosses from Otzolotepec.

Contributed photo

Sarape bracelets with hand-painted heart pendants from Otzolotepec.

[there are] so many good artists, we are honest and truthful and I’m sorry that you had to deal with one that wasn’t.” After this response, Martinez realized that it goes both ways.

“They’ve made products before and waited on the money, and no one ever sent anything. And here they are, they spent this money, and they don’t have extra money to be wasting,” Martinez said.

Now, Martinez talks to the artisans and tries to purchase items from people that were recommended in the small vendor communities. She says many of the artisans she works with have now become friends; they text and send photos to each other, wish her well in her sales and even follow her on Facebook and Instagram. She also likes to send the artists photos of her setup and pictures of their products on her Instagram.

Martinez said she never asks for a product if she’s unsure that she wants it.

“When I tell someone ‘I want this’ and ‘This is how many I want,’ that’s what I’m getting. I don’t back out,” Martinez said.

Three challenges Martinez faces as a small Hispanic business are: pushback at vendor events, limited inventory space, and people attempting to negotiate prices.

“If you say you sell Mexican items, a lot of people think, ‘Oh, you’re just like all of them.’ No, we don’t need that; we don’t want that here,” Martinez said.

Martinez also says she gets pushback at some vendor events because the items must be handmade.

“I have to explain; literally everything I sell is handmade. There’s nothing machine-made,” Martinez said.

Martinez also doesn’t have a lot of space to order large quantities of items. She also gets pushback from people who accuse her of taking from the artisans or individuals who want items at a cheaper price.

“Small businesses get compared to the large corporations too much,” Martinez said. “I’m not fiesta. Nobody questions H-E-B. Nobody says, ‘Hey can you give me a better price? Because that’s too much’ or ‘If I buy five, will you give me a discount?’”

In the future, Martinez would like to sell women’s clothing, silver jewelry and custom papel picada.

Contributed photo

Handmade palm bead rosaries with hand-painted crosses from Otzolotepec.