Current debates surrounding craft and design tend towards contrasting the past and the present, the Western and the non-Western, the industrialised and the developing world. This indicates the need within the academy to address a series of issues affecting the relationship between design and the crafts in a world that is often perceived as problematically ‘globalised’ and homogenous. What are the processes through which local producers, entrepreneurs and consumers, operating from both cosmopolitan and provincial sites, interact to create connections in this global context?