Entrepreneurship by design: the construction of meanings and markets for cultural craft goods

This paper posits that design is a crucial material manifestation of the storytelling by cultural entrepreneurs and that it enables cultural entrepreneurs to create new markets through meaning-making and value construction. In addressing the issue of how markets for cultural and aesthetic goods are created despite the opposing production logics of the two different realms of craft/culture and rational markets, it examines the case of craft-based retailers in India to propose that design functions as a narrative device to confer meaning on unfamiliar and under-appreciated (with respect to consumers) culturally specific craft objects, thus constructing their economic value. Through its emphasis on design as meaning-making, this paper makes contributions to the literatures on cultural entrepreneurship, markets, meaning and value.