Your questions, answered
Type what you’re after, or go in by section. Thirty-four questions, all of them here.
Buying
No. You can buy without signing up.
An account saves you typing the same thing next time: it keeps your delivery addresses and payment methods, and it lets you follow your orders and find your history, invoices and vouchers.
The shop’s payment methods are set out in the terms of purchase, section 8.
We handle returns when a piece arrives broken or faulty from the journey. Send us a photo and we’ll sort it out.
Every piece is made and assembled by hand, and a personalised one is made for one particular person — so it can’t be swapped for something else.
The guarantee on each product is set out in section 13 of the terms of purchase.
Yes. You’ll find our pieces in selected souvenir, gift and accessory shops across the main towns of the Basque Country and the French Côte Basque.
Yes, at no extra cost. Tell us under “Shipping method” when you order: we’ll wrap it and send it wherever you like.
Shipping and delivery
Delivery time changes from country to country. We publish it, with its cost, in the shop’s table.
It depends on the delivery area and on how much you spend: above a certain amount it’s free. We publish it area by area, with the delivery time, in the shop’s table.
See delivery times and costs by country
The Canary Islands and the French islands go separately: write to us and we’ll quote.
Yes, to both. And to plenty more.
Cost and delivery time are different for each. We publish them country by country in the shop’s table.
See delivery times and costs by country
The French islands go separately: write to us and we’ll quote.
Yes, above an order amount that changes with the delivery area. The figure for each area is in the shop’s table, with the rest of the conditions.
Outside the European Union the parcel goes through customs, and the destination country may charge taxes or duties. That amount isn’t part of the price of the piece or of the shipping: it’s always paid by whoever receives the parcel, and it’s paid on arrival.
Where we ship, what it costs and how long it takes are all in the same table:
See delivery times and costs by country
If you’re unsure about a particular country, write to us before you buy: info@culturalmemories.com.
Yes. When you finish your order you get a confirmation email with all the details. When it leaves the workshop we hand it to the carrier, who emails you the tracking number and the delivery date.
If neither has reached you, check your spam folder — and if it still isn’t there, write to us.
Send us a photo of the piece and we’ll sort it out. The acrylic silhouette is the delicate part and it travels well packed, but if anything arrives broken we replace it.
Tell us as early as you can, at info@culturalmemories.com o al +34 948 63 01 27, and keep the box: the carrier usually asks for it.
Yes. The delivery address is entered at checkout and doesn’t have to be yours: the piece goes wherever you say.
And if you want it gift-wrapped, tell us under “Shipping method” when you order. It costs nothing.
Text and engraving
Yes. There are two engravable areas, both on the white steel base: the front, the strip you see under the silhouette, and the back. Nothing is engraved on the oak or the acrylic.
Engraving is added to the price of the piece: €3.50 for the front of the base, €4.50 for the back, €8 for both. You can engrave one area or both.
Every piece leaves the workshop with a text already engraved on the front — the name of the scene — which you can keep, remove, or swap for your own.
A photo is only needed if the scene isn’t in the catalogue and has to be cut from scratch. To add your text to a piece that already exists, no.
The photo has to let the silhouette be read: the whole figure, not cropped, against a background that sets it apart, in a clear pose. A backlit shot, or a figure against the sky, beats a close-up every time.
Size and format: .
Send it before you order anything: we’ll look at it and tell you if it can become a silhouette. Tell us the idea
40 characters on the front of the base, 600 on the back. The front fits a name and a date; the back fits a whole dedication.
The counter on this screen warns you when you go over: text that doesn’t fit can’t be added to the basket.
Engraving happens in the workshop, on the assembled piece, so it adds a step to the order. How much time it adds depends on what’s on the bench that week; it isn’t a fixed number.
What you type here is what gets engraved, exactly as written: accents, capitals and punctuation included. Read it twice before adding it to the basket — once engraved, there’s no going back.
A piece engraved with your text is made for you and can’t be sold again, so it isn’t exchanged or returned over a change of mind.
What we do cover: if it arrives broken, or the engraving isn’t the one you asked for, send us a photo and we replace it.
The pieces
No, and it isn’t an oversight: each piece is made in one size, the one on its product page. The size is a fact about the piece, like the material — not something you pick when buying.
The catalogue has three widths — 9.3, 18.6 and 27.9 cm, all of them 15 cm tall and 4.3 cm deep — but every scene is designed and cut for its own. The comparison drawing on the product page is there to give you a sense of the size, not to pick one.
The colour isn’t a choice either: the silhouette is black in every collection.
If you need a scene in another size, that’s a commission: tell us about it.
Three materials: the silhouette, in 3 mm gloss black acrylic cut by laser; the base, in solid oak; and the support, in white lacquered steel, which gives it a background and carries the engraving. Assembled by hand — and no two oak grains are alike.
To clean it: a soft or cotton cloth damp with water, passed over lightly. The oak and the steel will take a little mild soap. The silhouette is the delicate part — don’t press it, and if you use a duster, go over it gently.
To move it, always take it by the steel support, never by the acrylic. How they’re made
Hold it by the steel base, never by the silhouette. The acrylic is the most delicate part.
It goes through laser cutting, lacquering, hand assembly and a final check. This isn’t a production line: we work in batches, so the time changes with what’s on the bench.
That’s how long it takes to make, which isn’t how long it takes to reach you: that depends on the country and it’s in the shop’s table.
What is true of all of them: they’re assembled by hand, one at a time, and oak grain never repeats — so no two are quite alike.
Sometimes, yes. Every design we’ve ever cut stays in the workshop, so a scene that’s no longer in the shop can be made again.
Tell us which piece it was — a photo will do — and we’ll tell you if we can: info@culturalmemories.com.
They’re 100% organic cotton. Wash them inside out, cold, with similar colours. Iron them inside out too, to protect the print.
Commissions & business
Yes, two ways. If the scene is already in the catalogue, we add your text to it. If it isn’t, send us the photo and we’ll cut it into a silhouette: we study it and tell you if it can be done before we start.
Yes. Alongside the collections we make one-off pieces for companies, associations and individuals: corporate gifts, client gifts, trophies, anniversaries and awards. Twenty commissions delivered so far.
The project can start from your logo or brand identity, from a photograph that still reads once it’s cut into a silhouette, or from scratch with the ideas you bring us.
Yes, on series commissions. The minimum depends on the piece and the finish, and we tell you with the quote.
The reason is the pattern. A new scene only has to be drawn and prepared for the laser once, and that work is shared across every piece in the commission: the more pieces, the less it weighs on each.
If what you want is a single special piece, that isn’t a corporate commission: tell us the idea and we’ll look at it all the same.
It depends on the commission: how many pieces, whether the scene has to be drawn from scratch, and how many rounds the design takes. The lead time is always written into the quote, and it starts the day you approve the design, not the day you first write.
If the commission has a date — a prize-giving, an anniversary, a trade fair — put it in your first email. Nothing shapes the job more.
Yes. The project can start from your logo or brand identity, from a photograph that still reads once it’s cut into a silhouette, or from scratch with the ideas you send us.
Send us the logo as a vector file if you have one: it cuts and engraves best.
Through the form on this page, or by writing to info@culturalmemories.com or by calling +34 948 63 01 27.
So we can answer with a number instead of another question, tell us four things: what’s being celebrated, how many pieces, for what date, and whether there’s a logo or a photo to start from. The quote commits you to nothing.
With an invoice in the company’s name, its tax number and VAT itemised. Commissions aren’t paid through the online shop: they go by approved quote and bank transfer.
Question not here?
Get in touch — whatever you need, we’ll help.