Born from One Young Woman’s Quiet Obsession
A story of craft, community, and a spark that traveled from a small workshop in Yiwu to homes around the world.
The Beginning
It started with curiosity, a handful of beads, and the internet.
Nobody told Miss Sang to make a rosary. In 2015, she was a young woman living in Yiwu — a city that supplies the world’s shelves, yet rarely pauses to ask what the things it makes might mean. She had been drawn to religious objects for years: their weight, their quiet symbolism, the way skilled hands could turn simple materials into something a stranger would hold during the hardest moments of their life.
So one evening, she sat down and made one. She sourced natural wood beads from the wholesale market around the corner, threaded them on waxed linen cord, and knotted each one the way she had read about in old craft guides. It took her most of the night. When she was done, she photographed it, wrote a few careful sentences, and posted it online.
The response was immediate. Within 24 hours, messages poured in from the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Poland, France, and the Philippines. Something about the piece — the care visible in every knot, the honesty of natural materials — cut through the noise of mass-produced alternatives.
“I didn’t think anyone would see it. Then I woke up and there were messages. Not from friends — from strangers. From people in the United States, in Mexico, in Italy, in Brazil. They all wanted to know: can I have one?”
— Miss Sang, founder of CTOCO
How We Grew
One maker discovered a world of makers waiting.
As orders multiplied, Miss Sang began thinking seriously about scale. She knew what large-scale manufacturing looked like in Yiwu — she had seen enough of it. That wasn’t the direction she wanted. What she was building needed to stay rooted in people, in skill, in genuine human care.
What she was building needed a name. In 2015, she chose CTOCO — a name built from what she wanted this work to stand for: Creative Touches Of Crafted Ornaments. It was ambitious for a one-woman workshop. But it set the standard for everything that followed.
What she found, when she started looking, was hiding in plain sight. In the villages and lower-income communities around her, there were women with extraordinary skill — women who had spent their lives sewing, threading, weaving, knotting — but who had little or no independent income. Their children had moved to the cities. Their hands were still, and their expertise was quietly disappearing.
It clicked instantly. She had more orders than she could fill alone. They had the skills she needed. The partnership that followed wasn’t charity — it was a natural fit between people who each had exactly what the other needed.
2015
The first post goes live
Miss Sang photographs her first handmade rosary and shares it online. Within 24 hours, international buyers from France, the United States, and Brazil are asking to purchase it. She makes five more that week.
2016
A workshop takes shape
Demand outgrows one pair of hands. Miss Sang deepens her material sourcing — natural wood, glass, pearl, crystal, stone, and metal — while carefully documenting her techniques so they can be passed on.
2017
The artisan community begins
She partners with her first group of women from low-income rural families — all skilled craftspeople with no formal income of their own. They are trained fully, paid fairly, and trusted completely. This becomes the CTOCO model.
2019
The mission becomes a commitment
What had grown from instinct becomes a formal principle. CTOCO establishes its policy of working exclusively with artisans from low-income rural communities, with full training, fair wages, and flexible working conditions as core operating standards.
2022
Scale that speaks for itself
CTOCO reaches a monthly production capacity of 100,000 pieces — and continues to grow. What began as one photograph posted online now ships consistently to wholesale and retail buyers across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and beyond.
2023
The first million-piece order
A major wholesale buyer places CTOCO’s first order for 1 million rosaries. It is a defining moment — proof that scale and quality can coexist. The entire workshop mobilizes, and every piece is still made by hand.
2025
A milestone of trust
CTOCO’s Alibaba store reaches $120,000 in quarterly transaction volume, while also supplying $500,000 per quarter in wholesale inventory to other cross-border sellers. To everyone who has placed their trust in us — thank you. We will keep going.
The People Behind Each Piece
Every bead is strung by someone with a name.
We think the most powerful thing we can tell you about our products is not the materials we use or the techniques we have mastered — though those matter. It is the fact that the person who made what you are holding has a face, a family, and a story.
“Before this, I stayed home. My husband worked and I looked after the family, but I had no income of my own. When Miss Sang asked if I wanted to learn, I said yes before she finished the sentence. Now I have regular work, I have money I earned myself, and I have something I am proud of. When I finish a piece, I think about who will hold it. I hope it gives them peace.”
— Mrs. Huang, lead artisan, joined CTOCO in 2017
Today, our workshop supports over 200 artisan families. Many are women who had no independent income before joining us.
A significant number are experienced older craftspeople — skilled woodworkers whose mastery of the materials has become one of the most important pillars of our production capability.
We believe that keeping these skills alive gives people something to build on — not just an income, but a sense of pride.
What We Stand For
Our values drive everything we make.
Our handcrafted products are made in collaboration with artisans from low-income rural families. Through this artisanal production, we have enhanced their living standards and improved their income. We are dedicated to supporting vulnerable communities, reducing unemployment, and fostering confidence and enthusiasm in their lives. This commitment is at the core of our mission and the values that drive our business.
Community First
We work exclusively with artisans from low-income rural families. Their wellbeing is not a footnote — it is the foundation of everything we make.
Handmade, Always
No machines complete what human hands can do. Every knot, every bead, every clasp is placed by a person who takes the time to do it right.
Opportunity Through Craft
Fair wages, flexible hours, full craft training. We believe meaningful work builds confidence and brings real, lasting improvement to people’s lives.
Objects That Carry Meaning
Our pieces are made for sacred use — prayer, remembrance, devotion. We approach that purpose with the seriousness it deserves.
Our mission is simple, even when the work is not.
To create religious objects of beauty and quality, made by skilled artisans whose lives are made better by their craft — and to connect those objects with people around the world who understand what it means to hold something made with care.
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A Note From Us
Thank you for being part of this story.
When you buy from CTOCO, you are not just buying a rosary, a cross, or a chaplet. You are choosing to reach across countries and cultures — and place your hands into a chain that connects you to an artisan community on the other side of the planet, in China, where each bead is strung with care and a piece of the maker is woven into the object now in your hands.
We think that matters. We think it matters enough to build a company around.
We hope it matters to you, too.
— Miss Sang & the CTOCO team, Yiwu, Zhejiang