• Arte.Sana is a growing wellness and tourism brand rooted in craft, culture, and intentional living. We believe in the power of handmade traditions, meaningful travel, and experiences that reconnect people with creativity, community, and themselves.

  • Today, Arte.Sana exists as a digital and community-driven platform dedicated to storytelling and cultural preservation.
    We focus on:

    • A curated newsletter exploring artisans, place-based traditions, and regenerative travel.

    • Maker interviews that highlight the people shaping local craft and culture.

    • Local events and day-trip experiences (coming soon) that introduce guests to creativity, slow living, and connection in accessible, small-format ways.

    This phase is about building community, elevating makers, and offering accessible forms of inspiration and exploration.

  • Arte.Sana is designed to evolve into a full ecosystem of creative and wellness-centered travel experiences, including:

    • Seasonal retreats that bring guests into direct contact with artisans, natural landscapes, and rituals of making.

    • Boutique hotels and permanent spaces that embody slow travel, sustainability, and cultural immersion—places that feel like sanctuaries for rest, creativity, and restoration.

    • A global network of craft-based experiences that support local economies, protect traditions, and invite travelers into deeper, more meaningful connection with place.

    Our long-term vision is to create spaces—temporary and permanent—where creativity and well-being live side by side.

Meet the founder: Karen Kandelman

Hi, I’m Karen

I’m originally from Brazil and have spent the last two decades exploring over 50 countries. I have lived in 6 countries, 4 continents and speak 5 languages (Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and a little Dutch) Travel has shaped the way I live, work, and connect. I’ve always been drawn to the depth that comes from engaging with local communities and learning from different ways of life.

I have been building my travel business for two years independently, which has allowed me to organise trips for honeymoons, family reunions, and destination weddings. I want to focus on how community and craftmaking can shape responsible tourism and personal wellbeing.

In December 2025, I will be transitioning into a full time travel advisor role and continue to explore how traditional craftsmanship and practice can be the antidote to the fast-paced digital age we live in.

A young girl with long wavy hair, wearing a light green sleeveless top and khaki pants, stands inside a vehicle holding a baby turtle. She has sunglasses on her head and is smiling at the camera. The vehicle door is open, revealing a grassy outdoor area. The interior of the vehicle has padded seats and a black harness, with a caption that says 'meet the founder' in white text on a semi-transparent strip.

Reviews

  • "Karen was amazingly helpful. Start to finish, she listened to our plans and our goals and our budget and came back with a master plan that we tweaked back-and-forth for a short time and came out with the final plan that was truly remarkable. We were moving four people from hotel to hotel by car rentals, by rideshare’s, by trains all over two countries and she managed to pack everything we needed into our trip of three weeks. Karen is an amazing planner and will work through all the details with you, everything you need in a travel agent, she is highly motivated, extremely intelligent and very professional, also, great with follow-through! We thoroughly enjoying working with Karen and she will be the first one we contact for our future travels."

    Mark Gordon

  • "Karen was excellent. She found exactly what I was looking for. She’s a great listener and an effective communicator."

    Sreedhar C.

  • "Our booking experience with Karen Kandelman was absolutely exceptional. She helped us plan our two-week honeymoon in Japan, covering four beautiful cities—Tokyo, Kaga, Kyoto, and Lake Kawaguchiko—before returning to Tokyo. From booking hotels to coordinating our travel between cities, everything was seamless and stress-free. Karen took the time to understand what kind of accommodations and neighborhoods we were interested in, and she truly went above and beyond to tailor the experience to our preferences. Every place we stayed in was perfect, and the logistics were handled so smoothly that all we had to do was enjoy our trip. We’re incredibly grateful for her help in making our honeymoon so memorable—thank you, Karen!"

    Diksha Sach

  • "My booking experience with Karen was outstanding! she was incredibly helpful, professional, and made the entire process smooth and stress-free and even had a driver waiting at the airport for pickup."

    Audrey Klein