Our fave crafter site, Etsy, is running a series called A Dude's Perspective in order to lure more male makers and shoppers. Here's a recent interview with marketing guru, Seth Godin, who shares some thoughts on a dude's perspective, but even more interesting thoughts on the allure of small design and small production.

Here's a tiny bit:

Big used to matter. Big meant economies of scale. (You never hear about "economies of tiny," do you?) People, usually guys, often ex-Marines, wanted to be CEO of a big company. The Fortune 500 is where people went to make. . . a fortune.

And then small happened.

Enron (big) got audited by Andersen (big) and failed (big.) The World Trade Center was a target. TV advertising is collapsing so fast you can hear it. American Airlines (big) is getting creamed by Jet Blue (think small). BoingBoing (four people) has a readership growing a hundred times faster than the New Yorker (hundreds of people).

Small means the founder makes a far greater percentage of the customer interactions. Small means the founder is close to the decisions that matter and can make them, quickly.

Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model when your competition changes theirs.

Small means you can tell the truth on your blog.

Small can be beautiful, y'all. Especially when given the option to shop local.