Our handmade standard
The word “handmade” gets used loosely. We think it deserves better.
Our standard exists to protect makers who genuinely craft their work, and to give shoppers the confidence that what they’re buying is exactly what it claims to be.
If removing the human from the process makes the product identical, it doesn’t belong on Luma.
The core principle. Everything below follows from it.
Handmade
A human makes it, controls the process, and finishes it.
Not handmade
A machine produces finished goods at scale with minimal human involvement.
What the word means more widely, and what UK law says about it: what is handmade?
Tools & techniques
Makers may use modern tools. What matters is whether the tool serves human creative control or replaces it.
CNC machining
Allowed
The maker created the design or holds a licence to sell what they make from it. They do significant finishing by hand and work in small batches or to order.
Not allowed
Identical items produced at volume, with no meaningful hand finishing.
Laser cutting
Allowed
The maker designed the piece or holds a licence to sell what they make from it. The laser is one step, with significant assembly or hand finishing after.
Not allowed
The product comes off the laser with no further work.
3D printing
Allowed
The maker modelled it or holds a licence to sell prints of it. They print in low volume, and either do significant finishing by hand (painting, sanding, assembly) or use the print as one part of a larger piece.
Not allowed
A print sold as it comes off the printer, print farms, print-and-ship, or AI-generated models.
Art prints
Allowed
Prints of the maker’s own original work. They sign or stamp every one, and they post it themselves.
Not allowed
Prints a lab sends straight to the shopper, or prints of work that isn’t the maker’s.
What is never allowed
The following are not permitted on Luma, regardless of how listings are described:
- Print-on-demand products
- Dropshipping
- AI-generated product designs
- Digital files (patterns, templates, downloads)
- Mass production, even if the maker owns the machine
- “Hand-assembled” products where all parts are factory-made
- Fan art, or anything carrying a trademarked character, logo or brand
- Food, drink, and perishables
- Plants and living things
- Photography, books, music and film
- Services rather than physical goods
- Reselling (second-hand, vintage, or retail goods)
Our prohibited items policy covers what can’t be sold here for reasons other than how it was made.
Photos of the real thing
A shopper buys what they see, so every photo has to show the real piece, the real work or the real workspace. Mockups, 3D renders, supplier images and AI-generated or AI-enhanced images aren’t allowed anywhere a maker uploads them. The AI rule covers backgrounds, generative fill and upscaling as well as images made from a prompt. Cropping, straightening and adjusting the light or colour is fine, and so is whatever your phone’s camera does on its own.
Allowed, with duties on you
These carry safety rules the rest of the catalogue doesn’t, and those rules are the maker’s to follow. These are some examples, and the prohibited items policy has the rest.
Soap and cosmetics
A safety assessment from a qualified assessor, a Product Information File, labelling with the INCI ingredients and a named responsible person, and a notification on the government’s SCPN portal, all before anything goes on sale.
Toys for children aged 3 to 14
UKCA marking, a technical file, and age marking. Anything a child under 14 might play with counts, whatever you call it, and so does a child’s dressing-up costume, wherever you list it. Toys for under-3s can’t be sold on Luma, soft toys aside.
Pieces with a bought-in battery unit
A clock movement or an LED tealight, for example. Keep the unit sealed as it came, and never a button battery. Anything mains-powered, or that you’ve wired yourself, can’t be sold on Luma.
How we uphold it
Every listing on Luma carries a description of how the item is made, written by the maker. It’s required before a listing can go live, and it’s how a shopper understands what they’re buying. Makers can add their materials and photos of the work in progress too.
Before any of that, a person at Luma reads each maker’s application: what they make, photos of their work and any links they give us. No shop publishes anything until we’ve approved it.
Shoppers can report listings that don’t feel genuinely handmade. We read every report and a person decides what happens next. We also check listings ourselves rather than waiting to be told.
Handmade means handmade
If you’re a maker who meets our standard, we’d love to have you. If you’re a shopper who cares about buying genuinely crafted goods, you’re in the right place.