Incausa

Incausa is an incense brand based in Brooklyn, US. They recently expanded their activity to homeware and started to make their own incense and ceramics in house. Get to know Vinicius Vieira de Vieira who is behind this brand.

How did it all start?

Back in 2011, I needed a shift of life, so I packed myself and flew to Europe where I travelled for four mouths. Between my hiking and climbing sessions I took time to think about what I wanted to do next, and it appeared that I was, and I’m still, very attached to my Brazilian origins and the country’s history. Growing up in Brazil, I always questioned the inequalities, and the vanishment of Indigenous communities. There are more than 300 nations of Indigenous ethnicities in Brazil and most Brazilians don’t know them. It felt like the Indigenous cause was the bottom of the barrel. Local ethnicities were disappearing, losing little by little their language, their heritage and their cultural history. Incausa is born from the need to fortify and connect the sovereignty of the Brazilian Indigenous cultures, in a way that benefits them and raise the world’s awareness about their heritage.

How did you connect with those communities all around the world?

A group of friends started a crowdsourcing campaign to do an audiovisual workshop with a group of indigenous people, and I decided to join their project. While having those workshops, this idea of selling Indigenous heritage pieces came up to me and so I asked my local contacts if they would eventually be interested. They immediately got on board. We then naturally built a strong network thanks to them, telling one another about us. We created an NGO there to manage all the logistics and transportation, we wanted to establish the fairest collaboration between them and us.

Within the Ayahuasca culture there were three incense makers who started in the late nineties to produce incense for other retailers such as yoga firms for example. They were making only one type of incense: pure Breu resin.

I used to love this incense myself, and in 2011 it suddenly made sense to me that I could start a business by merging all those cultures and know-how. By that time the Ayahuasca people never exported anything and didn't have any branding or marketplace. I started in 2012, in the streets of Brooklyn with a folding table selling their products. And then we worked together to develop this activity which led to Incausa's creation. Today, our shop is a mix of indigenous creations, and our own production made in Brooklyn.

We always work with raw materials from the Americas, I’m proud of the intelligent connection we built with the indigenous people.

Incense is something that bridges our cultures together, what we are selling is a spiritual connection. The same elements were used by Native Americans, North Americans, South Americans and Central Americans to make incenses. Such as Copal, Breu resin, White Sage, Palo Santo, Piñon and red cedar.

Where do your materials come from? How do you dye your baskets? How are ceramics made?

When we're talking about this indigenous artisanship, we're talking about people that still live like pre-Colombian civilizations in America. They make everything from scratch, from natural materials available in their surroundings.

For example, the red baskets are dyed with "Urucum". It’s the same dye they use on their faces. And then "Tinta Jenipapo", it's like charcoal mixed with mud to create black. Most of the straw they use to make the baskets is from palm trees’ leaves, different species depending on the tribe.

Each shape was developed more than ten thousand years ago. They are unique heritage pieces. The work that we're doing today is of preservation. We are the largest market placement of these artisanship. The only entity that has moved more pieces than us is the Smithsonian Museum.

The materials are all vegetable, old fashion Pre-Columbian types of dyes, of wickerwork, all made inside indigenous reservations.

About incense, we have various types:

- White Sage: used by different ethnicities and cultures in Europe as well. But this sage, salvia apiana, is something specific to North America indigenous practice.

- The makko: a natural binder, a very thin type of wood powder that becomes like cement when mixed with water. But it's just wood. We receive it directly from Kyoto, Japan. Instead of using glue and fragrances we only work with raw materials, leaving aside any sort of chemicals or synthetics. The makko is the most special binder. Charcoal is another binder, great for resin incense.

- The Breu Resin: comes from trees in the Amazon Forest. It’s extracted using the same technics than for the rubber in the same area, by making little cuts on the trees, and then transformed into incense sticks.

With our products, you are not burning fragrance or essential oil, you are literally burning a piece of wood. Sometime with charcoal or makko as the binder, and sometime without any binder at all. It's the case with the incenses made in Peru. We work with two Peruvian small manufacturers since 2013 whom produce a special Palo Santo blend.

In total our incenses are made in four locations: Peru, Brazil, Tibet, Japan, Mexico and now in United States.

The ceramics are made from clay in Brooklyn. Everything is made from scratch. And the soaps are made in Pennsylvania.

What would be the next step for you?

We've already achieved what we wanted, but as a side project we are working on a line of incenses made in Brooklyn. We are also testing candles and perfumes. So, candles, incenses and solid perfumes made in Brooklyn are my ongoing projects for the future.