What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Explaining the Mechanisms for Persistence in Artisanal Bookbinding

The contemporary relevance of craft in organizational studies has highlighted the urgent need to understand the conditions under which craft persists. Despite increasing scholarly attention, little is known about how artisans reconcile their custodial role with the pressures for innovation and adaptation in a modern context. This study addresses this gap through an exploratory study of artisanal bookbinding organizations in Italy. Our findings identify four mechanisms that enable artisans to balance their roles as both custodians and innovators, thus ensuring persistence. These mechanisms shape the social imaginaries surrounding craft and uphold the legitimacy of artisans. These revelatory insights contribute to the actual academic debate on the tensions between collectively imagined pasts and futures, offering insights into the mechanisms for sustaining craft activities in the face of modern challenges.