Ippolita Rostagno wants to save Italian craft with American-style entrepreneurship

Acclaimed jewelry designer Ippolita Rostagno grew up in the Oltrarno neighborhood of Florence, a place where artisans have practiced their trades for centuries. When they began disappearing, she decided to do something about it. The result was Artemest, an e-commerce platform for Italian handcrafted home decor. Since the company’s founding in 2015, it has grown 100 percent year over year, now featuring over 500 makers selling their wares. In this episode of the Business of Home podcast, Rostagno discusses how she navigated the comically inefficient Italian bureaucracy, won over old-school Italian artists and artisans, and mastered problem solving with her hands.