In August of last year, Larry Downes and Paul Nunes noted in the Harvard Business Review that the internet, typically classified as a “disruptive innovation” (one that disrupts and displaces an existing market), has paradoxically helped revitalize traditional, artisanal crafts: “Today’s rich trade in heritage goods is happening because of disruptive technologies, not in spite of them.” E-commerce has allowed socially conscious companies to sell wares to a global market, consequently encouraging and protecting indigenous crafts, and here are a few companies doing just that.
