About ArtisanCheck
Facts over claims.
ArtisanCheck is an established, independent certification body for artisan makers. We were founded by people with more than ten years in the cosmetics industry, who built a standard that separates what a maker can prove from what a label asserts.
10+ years in the industry, not marketing
Our founders spent more than ten years in the cosmetics industry as formulators and manufacturers, leading industry standards in sustainability, eco-friendly packaging and the use of premium ingredients. That work meant building products from the raw material up, and answering for every word printed on a label: what went in, where it came from, what it had been tested against, and what could honestly be said about it.
The problem we kept meeting
Working with many companies across the sector made one thing plain. Fraudulent claims were not an edge case. They were common, and they were expensive for the makers doing the work honestly: a word such as handmade, natural or recycled could be printed on a package with nothing behind it, and a buyer had no practical way to tell a maker who could prove a claim from one who had merely typed it. The cost of that fell on the people who deserved the credit.
Building the alternative
So we worked with makers, suppliers, reviewers and records to build something a claim could be measured against: an evidence standard that asks for the document behind each statement, keeps it on file, and issues a certificate only when the evidence holds. Not a score. Not a ranking. Not a badge bought by subscription — a record that anyone can check.
What ArtisanCheck is today
ArtisanCheck is an established certification body. A maker applies, a person reviews the evidence, and a certificate is issued for a stated period and published in a public register. Every certificate carries a six-digit number that a customer, a retailer or a marketplace can look up in seconds, and every claim on it was assessed against the standard on its own evidence.
Independent by structure
We are independent. We do not review, rank, score, promote or sell placement. We do not take payment for a favourable outcome, and no part of a reviewer's arrangement with us depends on the decision they reach. We validate the information a maker provides and certify accordingly — nothing more, and nothing less.
Who decides
Applications are reviewed by the review team: the people who spent their working lives formulating and manufacturing, and who know what an ingredient list, a supplier declaration and a production record look like when they are real. A decision is made by the review team and not by anyone with a commercial interest in the outcome. It carries a written reason, and it is recorded against the application with the date and the person who made it.
How we are paid, and why it matters
We are paid for the review and for the year of certification that follows it, never for the result. All charges are in Canadian dollars (CAD). That is the whole business model: a fee that is the same whether a claim is certified or refused, and a public register that shows what was decided and when.
The documents and rules behind all of this are published: the standard, the terms of service, the privacy policy and the seal usage terms.