Artisan Economics is an open invitation to changemakers, educators,conscious consumers, and anyone interested in the creative economy, to lean into this grassroots global community—and help drive systems change.

Our current economic practices are dragging us down. They contribute to environmental damage, social injustice, and a decline in public trust. The solution, argues social entrepreneur and executive director of the International Folk Art Market Stacey Edgar, is the artisan economy. 

In Artisan Economics, Edgar proposes a shift toward an artisan-centric model that prioritizes creativity, dignity, and community connection over profit at all costs. Drawing on stories and research from around the world, she outlines eight core principles—purpose, creativity, dignity, resistance, community, value, sustainability, and shared prosperity—which define this alternative economic framework. Ultimately, she says, the artisan economy is a way to reconnect consumers with makers, foster sustainable growth, and create a more equitable and human-focused global economy.

Artisan Economics delves into:

• Purpose—Reclaiming Meaning in Work 
• Creativity—The Art of Problem Solving
• Resistance—Making as a Political Act
• Sustainability—Craft, Climate, and the Living Economy
• Shared Prosperity and the Community of — How Value Flows When Everyone Counts

About The Author

Stacey Edgar, PhD, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, and researcher who is the executive director of the International Folk Art Market—the largest juried folk art market in the world that attracts tens of thousands of visitors and volunteers every summer. She earned her PhD in social work from Colorado State University and teaches inclusive leadership in their executive MBA program at the Leeds School of Business. For nearly two decades, she was the founder and leader of Global Girlfriend, a multimillion-dollar fair-trade enterprise that worked with hundreds of women-led artisan groups in forty countries.