Roots Studio digitizes endangered art from isolated regions and licenses it as surface patterns into the $32 billion fashion, interior decor, and stationery markets. Unlike hundreds of artisan products plagued by difficult supply chains, Roots Studio enables artists to move upward from "craft laborers" to visual designers through sustained royalties. Through a digitization and royalty model, indigenous artists are able to access multi-billion dollar brands and average a value of art sold 20 times more than standard market models. Over four years, they have digitized hundreds of unseen art from more than 3,000 artists in India, Syria, China, and Indonesia. Their team and advisors are leaders of tribes, designers, National Geographic Explorers, former business developers for Ralph Lauren, and former VPs of Bloomingdale's and Macy's. Funders include the Co-Founder of Tesla, Echoing Green, MIT, and Stanford.
Digitizing endangered designs and creating royalties for isolated artists around the world.
FOUNDED
2015
AREAS OF IMPACT
Sustainable Cities Economic Inequality
HEADQUARTERS
New York, New York, United States
COMPANY SIZE
6–20
Rebecca Hui (CEO at Roots Studio) has been an Unreasonable Fellow since November 2018 after participating in Unreasonable Goals 2018.
