This book draws on cutting-edge research funding from site-specific European case studies to examine current opportunities and challenges relating to cultural heritage, specifically the role of crafts. The book develops and presents an innovative ‘craft ecosystem’ model that considers a multiplicity of factors relating to the role of crafts in regional economic sustainability and cultural heritage.

Split into three main sections, the book focuses on the safeguarding of craft activities, the legal frameworks regulating craft activities, and innovation and creativity in craft-making. It considers specific industries including carpentry, ceramics and silk-making to analyze the economic viability of crafts in Europe today and to demonstrate the importance of regional and local tradition and the nature of ‘place-specific’ crafts as intangible cultural heritage. Each case study provides a historical, economic, social and legal perspective on how these ecosystems function today and the importance of preserving them from a cultural and sustainable point of view. Overall the book makes an important contribution to the current research on the economics of crafts and cultural heritage studies. It will be a valuable tool for students and scholars across these fields.

Francesca Cominelli is Associate Professor in Cultural Economics at the University Paris 1Panthéon-Sorbonne, IREST, Institute for Research and Higher Studies in Tourism, which she directed from 2017 to 2020. She is a member of the EIREST research team and her research focuses on the economy and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and explores the relationships between cultural heritage, Commons, sustainable development, heritage ecosystems, innovation and cultural diversity. 

Clara Vecchio is research manager for T4C European Horizon project at the EIREST, the research team of the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. She holds her PhD in 2018 in Economics, Euro-languages and Specialized Terminology, working on the intangible cultural heritage of Crafts in Haute Couture. Her research interests and work projects include creative and cultural industries, public and private cultural policies in crafts around transmission, innovation and sustainability.