PBS Arts: Off Book – Etsy Art & Culture

http://youtu.be/jMcSaQRztsY

Off Book | Etsy Art & Culture, latest episode of PBS Arts ongoing web documentary series, looks at vintage and handcraft e-commerce website, Etsy. This episode interviews four women: Vanessa Bertozzi, Director of Community & Education for Etsy; Alyssa Zygmunt of BROOKLYNrehab; Allison Patrick of Zipper8Lighting and Katherine Rasmussen of reiter8.

America has a long tradition of handmade arts and crafts. In the manufacturing age, however, much of this work was overshadowed by the homogenizing force of retail culture. But the passion for handmade arts didn’t disappear, and persisted through the years in local craft fairs. Now in the age of the internet, these local craft cultures and artists have found a unifying online community, Etsy, that provides a platform for communication and sales to appreciative fans and customers, as well as a medium to connect with each other and share ideas across the globe.