GLOBAL VISION AWARDS

THE 26 PEOPLE, COMPANIES, AND NONPROFITS | CHANGING THE WAY WE TRAVEL FOR THE BETTER

OPENING DOORS TO ANCIENT CRAFTS 

DENTO

Many visitors to Japan are eager to learn more about the country's traditional arts and crafts, such as ceramics, textiles, handmade paper, and metalwork. But it can be hard to know where to look-and harder still to navigate the language barrier. Enter Dento, a new company that aims to open those doors. It's supported in part by the Kyoto-based travel agency Windows to Japan, whose founder and CEO Avi Lugasi recognized the need for a more equitable relationship between master craftspeople and the travelers keen to meet them. "One of the big issues has been, if a visitor is there talking with the craftsman, that takes the concentration out of what they're doing," Lugasi explains.

The solution? Compensating the professionals for their time-as well as creating an online shop that helps expand the market for these one-of-a-kind goods. Dento also operates a foundation that recruits and pays apprentices. "We're supporting the next generation that will carry on these crafts," Lugasi says.-E.G.

TRACKING EVERY SINGLE PIECE

PAKA

It's fair to say that Kris Cody's backpacking trip through Peru in 2015 changed his life. After seeing firsthand the care and craftsmanship that goes into alpaca-wool garments-many of which are still handmade in the Andes Mountains-Cody decided to give up his neuroscience studies and, instead, create an activewear brand. Today, as founder and CEO of Paka, he makes sure every sweater bears the signature of the woman who made it on an interior hem; there's also a QR code for those who want to learn more. "From the beginning, Paka was about connecting people to where the things come from, what they're made of, who made them," Cody explains. "Traceability was the next step in being able to see the coordinates, literally, of where that fiber was shorn in the Andes."―E.G.