A sourcing company built in Nanjing
CnCraftAgent was founded in Nanjing in 2026 to do one thing properly: source Chinese cultural craft for overseas buyers who cannot afford to get it wrong.
Why we exist
China produces an enormous amount of cultural product and very little of it is what it claims to be. Machine-pressed ornaments are sold as hand-carved. Printed fabric is sold as brocade. Trading companies relabel wholesale catalogue goods as artisan work, and from a screen in London or Chicago there is no way to tell.
We started CnCraftAgent because that gap is a real problem for buyers, and because we happen to be able to close it: we live where the makers are, and we can tell the difference.
How we are set up
We run two desks. The sourcing desk owns workshop relationships, sample verification and inspection standards. The operations desk owns quotations, contracts, order flow, export documentation and client communication.
Every order passes through both. That separation is deliberate — it means the person checking the goods is not the person under pressure to close the deal.
The team
We are a young company and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we do have is specific, unusual experience in exactly the two things this business requires.
Sourcing & Authenticity
Led by a specialist trained in archaeology who spent years in auction-house provenance work. That background produces a particular habit: asking which dynasty a pattern belongs to, where a weaving technique broke off, whether a surface was carved or moulded. It is also why we do not accept supplier claims without a sample in hand.
Operations & Export
Led by a specialist with eight years in cultural tourism gifts and cross-border operations. Quotations that can be read, timelines that hold, documentation that clears, and one person who answers when something goes wrong at the port.
Where we are going
We are building this as a company, not as a side project. The plan is straightforward: start with cultural gifts and heritage craft, do it well enough that clients order again, and add categories, desks and people as our clients' needs pull us there rather than ahead of them.
We would rather be the company you can grow with than the one that promised you a full-service platform in year one and could not deliver an inspection report in week three.
What that means for you today. A young company is a fair question for any buyer. Three things make it a manageable risk: your money for goods never passes through us, our liability is capped at a fee you agreed in advance, and every commitment we make is written into the agreement before work starts.
Where we work from
Nanjing, in Jiangsu Province. Within a day's travel: Suzhou silk and embroidery, Yixing purple clay, Jingdezhen porcelain, Yangzhou lacquer, and the craft counties of Zhejiang and Anhui. Yunnan and Guizhou need a flight, which we take when a brief calls for it.
Being close is not a marketing line. It is the difference between a supplier sending you photographs they chose and our team standing in the workshop taking our own.
Start with one order
Tell us what you are trying to source. We will tell you honestly whether we can do it, and what it will cost before you commit to anything.
Send a sourcing request