Our journey began together in our early 20s, when we started a lawn and gardening service under the hot southern sun. The work was hard and the days were hotter. Though a far cry from what we do now, we had a vision and a direction of where we wanted our future to go. We always knew it was to pursue art through the medium of an online store, but the path was difficult and unclear.
Art was always something we had a passion for, in all of its forms. From music and drawing, to video games and 3D modeling. Rolando has been a musician since childhood and Cindy had a lifelong love of drawing and design.
We sold our entire life, packed it into boxes on an old utility trailer, and moved to Austin, Texas. There we searched for a brighter future, one step closer to our dreams of an online business. Working the days at our jobs and the evenings on our art. We happily labored away in our little cramped and overpriced apartment. Soon, our efforts began to show as the locals became interested and started buying our work! We scurried around town in our little Prius making deliveries, met a lot of cool people, and even got offered a small segment in a "Touring Texas Artisans" show on some channel. (We didn't take them up on it, couldn't bring ourselves to give them the grand tour of our bedroom workshop on TV, haha). At least it showed us one thing, people actually like our work! It was all starting to pay off. We had the motivation and we had the drive. Now we had validation! It was time to start our online store.
In early 2020 Culture Stone Studio was created, we were a fully operational shop online! After many difficulties and failed attempts in the past, we had finally managed to reach our goal (at least the start of it). We made a commitment and a vow to be the best we could be. This meant putting our all into our art, delivering great customer experience, and providing high quality artisanal work. (Things that could be cherished and kept for years). We didn't want to be the standard cookie-cutout shop that was in it for a quick buck. We wanted to build a good reputation as a solid shop that you could rely on for continuous great pieces!
Our principles and quality products have lead us to where we are today. Still, we have much farther to go. We hope to continue serving you all, and delivering consistent and new work for years to come. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our story, and thank you more for being a customer and supporter! :)