The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable Enterprise in the Craft Industry

Abstract

This study proposes to extend the sustainable business framework of the Quadruple Bottom Line into the Quintuple Bottom Line. The five Ps of the Quintuple Bottom Line support purpose-driven businesses to consider economic profitability alongside social responsibility and environmental sustainability, rooted in place (purpose, profit, people, planet and place), and are based on reflections from the craft industry. Case studies from material-based creative businesses as found in the traditional handicraft and design-innovation communities in Nepal, and a designer-making community in Scotland, both explored circular-economy principles. The importance of localised supply chains and regenerative design enabled the development of the five-Ps framework so as to be more reflective of circular-economy models as operated by craft businesses. This qualitative research project took a case-studies approach, supported by primary research through workshops and interviews, and using the expansion of the Craft Toolkit of Applied Arts Scotland to embed the five Ps. The craft sector, with creative practices rooted in traditional manufacturing, material knowledge and yet a contemporary approach to design, can thus provide a useful model for other creative businesses that support purposeful, holistic sustainability and that engage with financial, environmental, and social sustainability that is rooted in place.

1. Introduction

This study looks at two correlated approaches to climate change: a net-zero economy will require both a fundamental culture shift and a radically new means of doing business. The term net zero has been internationally agreed on as the target to achieve a net-zero-emissions budget by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and/or to ensure that any ongoing emissions are balanced by removal. The study reports on case studies from craft businesses in Scotland and Nepal and their efforts to embed sustainable business practices. The Scottish Government [1] and Nepali Government [2] have both agreed to a 2045 net-zero target. This will mean changed priorities, new legislation, and new funding strategies for citizens and businesses. Crafts businesses rely on supply chains of material resources with associated embodied carbon and a carbon footprint. The study reports on case studies from craft businesses in Scotland and Nepal which were originally viewed through the lens of the Quadruple Bottom Line or 4Ps: purpose-driven businesses which place economic profitability alongside social responsibility and environmental sustainability (purpose, profit, people and planet), but which highlighted the importance of local ecosystems and therefore the proposal to include a fifth P to reflect not only purpose, profit, people and planet, but also place.

Orthodox linear business models of indefinite growth have fuelled climate change exponentially since the 1950s [3], as is embodied in the idea of the Anthropocene [3,4,5]. Challenges to the indefinite-growth model, initially raised by Meadows et al. [6], Schumacher [7] and the U.N.’s Our Common Future—also known as the Brundlandt Report [8] argued for sustainable development (growth) that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ and called governments, civic society and businesses to action. The Brundlandt Report laid the groundwork for the Earth Summit in 1992, which led to the establishment of the U.N. Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which established the Convention of the Parties (CoP) as the decision-making arm. In 2015, the same year as the seminal Cop21 in Paris, the U.N. also released the U.N. Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which followed on from the Millennium Development Goals. The SDGs were ratified by 193 signatories in 2015, and are effectively the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

Heterodox economic models such as the circular economy and doughnut economics contend that the current economic model of indefinite growth is not compatible with 21st century needs [9,10], and that metrics such as GDP are no longer fit for purpose [11]. This in turn has led to the call for ‘prosperity without growth’ [12], with the ‘case for the new green deal’ [13] where ‘less is more’ [14] and where design plays a critical part [9,15]. A circular-economy model considers the life cycle of material goods and examines its journey from cradle to cradle, which ‘tries to put human beings in the same ‘species’ picture as other living things’ ([9], p. 1). It argues that resources are precious and finite, and should be treated as such. It puts design (products, processes, and systems) at the heart of solutions, with materials carefully chosen for their nearly infinite capacity to be re-used, and a design ethos of easy disassembly and re-use. Furthermore, it also asks that, when materials are replaced by alternatives, those alternatives do not inadvertently introduce other problems down the line, but instead take a whole-system approach. The concept of circular economies, as described by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (launched in 2010) [16] as looking ‘beyond the current take-make-waste extractive industrial model’, offer an alternative framework based on three principles:

• Design out waste and pollution;
• Keep products and materials in use;
• Regenerate natural systems.

Furthermore, the circular-economy model, which tends to focus on design to encourage a circular model, has clear economic imperatives [9,15,16]. The Ellen Macarthur Foundation [16] argued that circular economies benefit not only from substantial net material savings, but also mitigate price volatility and supply risk, with a reduced risk of externalities. Furthermore, it argues that circularity as a ‘re-thinking device’ to create a ‘user-centric economy’ leads to innovation, employment, and productivity increase, which in turn supports a more resilient economy. Emerging economies, such as Nepal, can leapfrog into establishing circular systems more easily than advanced economies, and can ‘therefore expect even greater savings from circular business models’ ([16], p. 10). The report noted that circular businesses gained not only from reduced material bills, with less product complexity and more-manageable life cycles, but also increased customer interaction and loyalty and reduced externalities. These models in turn offer benefits to consumers by eliminating premature obsolescence and through an increased offer of consumer choice where access is preferable to ownership, as reflected in different contractual options (e.g., loans, rental, shared-ownership, buy-to-return, outright purchase …).

The circular-economy model tends to focus on design of materials and systems. Doughnut economics expands this to include the safe space for humanity to operate, which safeguards social foundation and ecological limits [17]. Its simplistic model belies complicated planetary yardsticks: ecological limits that, once exceeded, put ecosystems and thus human life in the danger zone. These biophysical metrics (on climate change, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorous loading, freshwater withdrawal, land conversion, biodiversity loss, air pollution and ozone-layer depletion) indicate an ecological threshold which must not be exceeded if planetary ecosystems are to remain stable. This is founded on a social foundation that avoids critical human deprivation, and aligns closely with the UN SDGs. There is now a large body of empirical research that finds diminishing returns in social performance as resource use increases across indicators such as life satisfaction and life expectancy. Despite improved social thresholds over time, this is generally counterbalanced by an overshoot of ecological boundaries. Countries such as Nepal, for example, have capacity to increase their resource use and not cross their biophysical boundaries, but there ‘is an urgent need to accelerate improvements in social performance to avoid critical human deprivation’ ([18], p. 31). In short, no country has yet met the safe space for human development that operates between ecological ceilings and social boundaries. The doughnut model thus clearly indicates the scale of the task ahead.

These heterodox economic models require alternative business models. Hybrid business models [19] have emerged, in the UK most notably under the social-enterprise label, internationally known as Fair Trade, often working with emerging economies, and in corporate terms designated as B-corp. Regenerative systems, through their implicit design, recover, restore, and regenerate. Regenerative capitalism expresses the potential of ‘business as an agent for world benefit’: “It has percolated in the hearts of those who gathered at World Summits on Sustainability and Conferences of Parties on climate change and UN sessions to save the planet” [20]. The U.N. noted that no matter how large or small, and regardless of their industry, all companies can contribute to the SDGs. The U.N Global Impact asks companies to first do business responsibly and then pursue opportunities to solve societal challenges through business innovation and collaboration [21]. Whilst this is not as radical of some the models discussed earlier, it indicates a significant culture shift. Purpose-driven business has a rich body of research in business studies (including corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental legislation).

One of the most extensively used definitions of sustainability in business has been the Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) approach. Attributed to entrepreneur John Elkington [22] it posits that businesses addressing sustainability by paying attention not only to the economic prosperity of a business (profit), but also social justice (people) and environmental responsibility (planet), are more likely to thrive. He argues that these businesses are sustainable in the longer term in a market-driven closed-loop economy, where shifting values demand increased transparency and where collaboration is key and long-term thinking is critical. Elkington argued that TBL is a catalyst to move beyond the paradigm, towards a more pluralistic world, in which—critically—different types of corporates would require different responses from government and civil society. This if often referred to as sustainable entrepreneurship (SE). Critiques of the shortcomings of the TBL concept have argued that it needs to include contextual factors. The TBL concept expanded to the Quadruple Bottom Line (QBL), to include ‘purpose’. This initially referred to spirituality [23], community and country [24] or to businesses’ culture or corporate governance [25,26], or to the broader cultural context in which businesses operate [27], and, latterly, to purpose and passion ([28], p. 148). In the Quadruple Bottom Line, the culture and ethics of a business should permeate its financial, social, and environmental bottom line [29]. It is for this reason that the fourth bottom line is often referred to as purpose or the fourth P. It is notable that Poon differentiated between ‘purpose’ and ‘passion, and as such argued for the Quintuple Bottom Line. In this paper we argue that the Quintuple Bottom Line should instead account for the importance of ‘place’ as informed by this study on local craft businesses. In other words, we argue for the four Ps of profit, people, planet and purpose to be expanded, with a fifth P of place, as was supported by our work with craft businesses.

2. Materials and Methods

This study reflects on a two-year period (2020–2022) of the Closing the Loop group of makers from Applied Arts Scotland and two British-Council-supported projects in Nepal with artisan communities through the Road to COP26 Innovation Grant Programme in 2021 and the In Our Hands programme in 2022. The case studies are drawn from a small sample: six young entrepreneurs from the Road to COP26 Innovation Grant Programme and seven from the In Our Hands programme who are working with traditional craft communities in Nepal and eight mid-career designer-makers from Applied Arts Scotland’s Closing the Loop group in Scotland, but included discussions and engagements with a wider group of makers. As such, these case studies are from small creative businesses who have already self-identified as being engaged with issues of sustainability. Both creative communities participated in workshops to help them articulate existing and future considerations around sustainability. These case studies relate to the issues encountered when addressing sustainability in small creative-craft businesses. The participants in this study used (1) the Quadruple-Bottom-Line framework to explore sustainability in their craft business and (2) the circular-economy framework as outlined by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation to investigate their supply-chain and design responsibilities in their craft businesses, as explained in the Ellen-Macarthur-Foundation butterfly diagram ([30], p. 24). The following tools were used to encourage participants to work through the practicalities of this, by using:

• A questionnaire adapted from the ReSOLVE framework developed by McKinsey in collaboration with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation ([30], p. 26), which addresses the following questions:

  (a)

  REGENERATE: shifting to renewable energy and materials, reclaiming and restoring ecosystems;

  (b)

  SHARE: sharing or re-use of assets, re-use or second-hand sourcing;

  (c)

  OPTIMISE: increase efficiency, remove waste in production, use (big) data or automation:

  (d)

  LOOP: remanufacture products or components, recycle materials, digest anaerobically, extract biochemicals from waste;

  (e)

  VIRTUALISE: books, music, travel, sourcing;

  (f)

  EXCHANGE: replace old with advanced technology and/or deploy technology to be more efficient (e.g., 3D printing).

• The Sustainable Business Model Canvas (2018), as devised by Dr. Robert Gerlach [31].
• The revised Applied Arts Scotland Craft Toolkit [32], which embeds sustainability in business planning for craft businesses.

As there are different interpretations of what constitutes craft, dependent on the cultural and historical contexts to which it might refer, we are using Glenn Adamson’s open-ended definition of ‘the application of skill and material-based knowledge to relatively small-scale production’ ([33], pp. 2–3,) by which definition the scope of craft making extends beyond ceramics, textiles, glass, metal and woodwork to include bookbinding, boatbuilding, brickmaking, architecture, maintenance and repair, gardening and cooking… It is in fact an inclusive definition which can be related to the Cultural Ecosystem Services definition of cultural practices informed by locale and geography, more of which later. Throughout this paper craft business owners are referred to as ‘makers’.

A multiple-case-study approach has been taken [34]. Multiple data types were collected, including notes and observations taken during group discussions and transcripts from semi-structured interviews, and these were thematically analysed using the Quadruple Bottom Line as a framework.

3. Results

The craft industry in Scotland is one which consists of predominantly sole traders (85.6%) and SMEs ([35], p. 24) who deploy traditional crafting techniques with either contemporary or traditional designs. Of 361 Scottish craft businesses surveyed in 2012, 31% had already made significant changes to their business practice to support environmentally responsible business practices. Unlike the Nepali case studies, the participants in this group were established makers who had been running their craft businesses for several years, some even several decades. As such, this group had a different demographic and background from the Nepali case studies.

3.1. Scotland

The Closing the Loop maker-led research group explores gaps in current-materials knowledge and the application of sustainability tools and practices in the studio, and is a partnership between Applied Arts Scotland and Edinburgh Napier University. An inaugural event with 66 attendees and a workshop with 33 attendees in February 2020 explored the role of data to support ‘green making’. In the workshop session, participants were encouraged to work through the questionnaire adapted from the ReSOLVE framework ([30], p. 25). Subsequently, a committed group of between 15 and 20 regular attendees met online for monthly group discussions. These discussions generated the data on which the case studies are based. These are supplemented with in-depth interviews of between 45 and 90 min with eight volunteer participants, in autumn 2021. Below are the findings of the Scottish case studies as analysed using the Quadruple-Bottom-Line framework.

3.1.1. Planet

There was an inherent embedded practice of re-using, recycling and being economical with materials. This relates both to an appreciation of materials and not wanting to waste them, but also relates to the precarity of maker’s practices, where materials hold financial value which they do not want to waste.

“I don’t waste, or I try not to waste, so it’s been quite interesting, actually unravelling that aspect of my work, that I try not to throw things away or chuck things. I prefer to give things to somebody else to use if I can’t use it or look at how something can be reused.” (maker, interview 15 October 2021)

The makers often reclaim materials from existing waste streams (from the building trade, from litter picking, beach combing, charity shops…) to use in their products. Materials are sourced, collected, cleaned, cut, shredded, pressed, welded or simply put together. The labour involved in this process is laborious and time-consuming. This time is not easily compensated for financially: when purchasing new materials, there is straightforward financial transaction. However, it is acknowledged that often the environmental and social bottom lines are not accounted for in linear business models:

“So, I painstakingly work away at [cleaning it without chemicals] over months, sometimes years, to remove the bitumen from the back of the copper.” (maker, interview 15 October 2021)

There was also a common theme in attributing value to non-precious materials by adding value to these materials through the above processing but also by attributing an emotional value. This was particularly notable in the jewellers’ cases, where traditionally precious materials such as gold and silver and diamonds increasingly come with an ethical provenance, but one which is often lacking in the cases of other materials.

Several of the makers had investigated their own carbon footprint as part of their assessment of their business sustainability credentials. It was clear that this exercise threw up two related issues. Firstly, for materials-based craft practices, there is a lack of clear and easy to find information on the supply chain. The supply-chain information pertained to two data points: the environmental impact, usually reported in the carbon footprint of materials, and the social impact, as reported in the ethical accountability of materials. There were some key industry standards established, for example for precious materials, such as gold, silver and diamonds, with standards for ethical sourcing. When using recycled, reclaimed or found materials, this origin story cannot be verified. Similarly, environmental reporting often translated to the carbon footprint of materials. Whilst there are good sources out there to track carbon footprints of office-based activities, this information is much less available for manufacturing-based activities. The lack of transparency in the supply chain makes it difficult to find out not only precisely where materials originate from, but also what components and ingredients may make up certain materials. It is also difficult to ascertain what the carbon footprint is of transporting the material to the studio door, as this information is generally not supplied by suppliers. Even for locally sourced materials, it was not always clear how to ascertain the origins. Whilst there might have been some information on standard products, when materials were re-used, recycled and found, this made the issue of traceability and carbon reporting almost impossible. Secondly, it was easy for the makers to become lost in the minutiae of carbon footprinting, and spend a disproportionate amount of time sourcing this information. It is clear that it is not viable at this moment for any SME to be able to do this with any degree of confidence, unless materials were grown or sourced and used very locally. Furthermore, the footprint of these sole traders is negligible, in the scale of emissions. However, there was a clear desire to be able to track and report on this information, not only for their own satisfaction but in respect of customer trust and transparency.

“But I just slowly imploded over time. And I realised, actually, that our electric [use] is minimal here. I source so much ethically, I travel very little, I don’t really go abroad.” (maker, interview 15 October 2021)

There was also some considerable material-innovation notable, in both material composition and technique. In the desire to either use materials which were perceived to be less damaging to the environment, e.g., plastics—although that proved not straightforward—alternatives were often sought. In one case, this led to a collaboration with a material scientist in the pursuit of plant-based plastics. Although this speculative material turned out to be more costly than gold per gramme, due to the lack of scale and production capacity at this stage of the research and development, these material experiments did highlight the perceived problem in sourcing materials sustainably that are financially viable.

3.1.2. People

A connecting thread was how the work produced, whether exhibited, sold at trade fairs or commissioned, became conversation pieces: ‘a vehicle with which to start conversations with’

“I realised that actually in the sea of destruction and the pursuit of it, it actually became of subversive act to pursue happiness. So that in itself is a political statement” (maker, interview 15 October 2021)

It was clear that for many makers, the idea of self-care had become a critical part of their social responsibility and that any social responsibility needed to address the precarity of their business towards themselves as much as to others in the supply chain. However, there is an acknowledged contribution to the process of making:

“it’s meditative”—“I think there is definitely a class divide. So, if you are in the middle classes I know you are definitely more likely to be aware of climate change and the need to be more sustainable. But if you’re in a working-class environment where you are living a subsistence living, it’s not really high on the agenda.” (maker, interview 15 October 2021)

3.1.3. Profit

The impact of COVD-19 had been keenly felt in this cohort, and had clearly had a financial repercussion, with diminished opportunities. However, there was an increased speed at which a digital pivot happened, opening up other opportunities, hitherto not readily available. Whether it was delivering online-teaching sessions, and developing makeshift equipment to do so, or connecting with others remotely, the digital pivot had become a key survival strategy for makers. However, for some this meant poor wi-fi connection, often in rural or remote locations, made isolation and disconnection worse, and prevented some financial opportunities from being pursued. Similarly, if makers were reliant on customers, clients or students for whom the Wi-Fi connection was poor or who had limited internet skills—e.g., the elderly or disadvantaged—this also proved an obstacle.

As materials are often reclaimed with concomitant hours of sourcing and cleaning, the labour contributing to these processes is often not included or accounted for in the financial value attributed to the final work. Instead, the value attribution was accrued in the other bottom lines.

“So, it’s really difficult to apportion cost, most of it is time, rummaging in skips for the right materials. I don’t know how to price that.” (maker, interview, 15 October 2021)

3.1.4. Purpose

Although the Scottish makers are all set up as profit-making sole traders/or limited company, social benefit and environmental concerns are important aspects of their creative and business drives. For many makers this is a political act. It was clear that the general ‘culture’ embodied in the ReSOLVE framework helped the makers to implement the Quadruple Bottom Line in practice. By thinking through this, using the worksheet and questionnaire, makers were able to implement changes not only to their working practices, but also to how they profiled themselves outwardly in communications and arguably in their own governance, even when operating as sole traders. It was clear that sustainable thinking was imbuing their operational affairs.

3.1.5. Place

Critically, it became clear that the importance of place, of the locality where materials come from, and how they might relate to particular ecosystems, was a recurring theme.

“Being sensitive to the materials we use, where they’re from, where they go, their afterlife, and inviting the kind of the buyer’s input really and offer a slightly more bespoke service in that I suppose welcoming the kind of purchaser’s input. [ ] Everything we do is made to order, so let’s work with your space. And then I work with the clients so that gets the right product for them which results in less waste for us.” (maker, interview, 15 October 2021)

However, in comparison with Nepal, Scotland has lost much of its connection to tradition and location in terms of material provenance and community of practice. This makes choosing materials much more difficult, as most materials are not necessarily grown or manufactured locally. This meant reconnecting with a sense of place. Walking, as an act of connecting to a place, surfaced in at least two practitioners’ work as a key feature of exploring local environments and connecting with its ecosystems:

“Just from the act of walking, that sense of place develops. Because you’re interacting not just the lower plant life, in the flora and fauna but you’re connecting with the canopies and everything in that mid-range. So it’s almost like a landscape that unfolds as you walk.” (maker, interview, 15 October 2021)

Repurposing waste adds localization and place-based sourcing. The importance of place, of localized supply chains and local materials, was an aspect of the Quadruple-Bottom-Line approach which was not acknowledged. Based on the findings in this project, the fifth P of place was added to the Quadruple-Bottom-Line framework to support the Nepali case studies outlined below.

It is worth noting that the Quintuple-Bottom-Line approach was subsequently adopted in the expansion of the existing Craft Toolkit developed by Applied Arts Scotland for the British Council. The Craft Toolkit [32] uses the five Ps as underlying principles, helping businesses to articulate their purpose, their relational networks and impacts (people), their business plan (profit) and their environmental impact (planet and place). The addition of the sustainability module was to make the five Ps much more explicit, to celebrate existing good practice and encourage new ways of working. It uses the five Ps to systematically reflect on business goals and ambitions, to encourage more holistic thinking and demonstrate how business and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked. The revised Toolkit is now translated into twelve languages, with a focus on the countries where the crafts sector is still deeply embedded in community such as India, Afghanistan and South America.

3.2. Nepal

In contrast to the Scottish case studies, the Nepali case studies engaged with young entrepreneurs, some of whom have set up as social enterprises, to work and support communities outside of their own practice. Unlike the U.K., Nepal still has a very rich ecology of indigenous craft-making communities: wood workers, potters, weavers, brick makers, rope makers, gilders, embroiders… which often have strong heritage- rather than design-focused products. These indigenous communities have been recognised as still possessing traditional making practices and knowledge bases which informed their nature-inspired climate solutions [36]. Through the affiliation with Kathmandu University and the Department of Design as well as Engineering, applicants to the two programmes outlined below came predominantly with a design-and-engineering perspective rather than a designer–maker approach, as might be customary in the UK. These young entrepreneurs worked closely with these traditional artisan communities.

The Road to CoP26 Innovation Grant Programme (R2COP26) (2021) and In Our Hands (IOH) project (2022) supported over 50 freelancers and SMEs, and funded 11 to start up their sustainable-business ideas. These projects form part of the long-standing British Council Crafting Futures programme, active throughout Asia, Latin America and Europe, supporting local craft communities to create prosperity and tackle global challenges. The R2COP26 programme delivered an online incubator programme to 38 aspiring entrepreneurs, in partnership with Kathmandu University, the National Innovation Centre Nepal, Applied Arts Scotland and Edinburgh Napier University. The R2COP26 focused on a circular-economy model, which placed nature-inspired climate solutions using design at the heart of product and service development. The Quintuple Bottom Line was used as a framing device to encourage participants to think through the financial-, social- and environmental-sustainability aspects of their business ideas by foregrounding local ecosystems to highlight nature-inspired climate solutions. Six finalists were funded to develop their sustainable-craft business. The IOH programme supported twenty entrepreneurs and funded seven to progress with their business ideas. The Nepali case studies used the Sustainable Business Canvas [31] and the In Our Hands cohort also used the adapted Craft Toolkit [32], both adapted by the team to reflect on the Quintuple-Bottom-Line approach. As the emphasis on circularity was made more upfront in these case studies, the reporting of the Quintuple Bottom Line is thus in a different order to the Scottish case studies, to reflect the priorities emerging from these case studies.

The impact of the global pandemic on the research prevented local field work from taking place. Instead, case studies relied on online notes and reflections from the online incubator sessions in April 2021 and November 2022 and in-depth interviews of between 45 and 90 min with the R2COP26 grantees and mentors. The input of the mentors (from Kathmandu University and Applied Arts Scotland) was critical to ensuring that these businesses were thinking through all the aspects of the closed-loop principles; from sourcing the right materials, to production, packaging and end of life. This research thus only reflects the designer/entrepreneur perspectives. The focus here, then, is on the business concepts explored through the QBL.

3.2.1. Planet

As the focus of these business ideas was material based, a circular-economy approach was a key consideration. This meant investigating the supply chain of the raw materials. This included looking at existing material streams and re-purposing waste streams into higher-value items, such as, for example, the recycling of discarded furniture into handlooms to enable a more ergonomic and faster production of artisanal-woven-textile production. For several, this meant examining the source and life cycle of natural resources such as timber, yak hair, bamboo and banana leaves. Whilst two business considered using existing waste streams (discarded wooden furniture and banana agri-waste), which would work well on a micro scale, there were long-term implications of using potentially finite waste streams when scaling up.

“In Nepal there are a lot of community forests managed by farmers and local people. At a larger scale I can work with these communities to resource from [these] community forests.” (grantee)

Banana leaves are considered agri-waste, and currently hold little-to-no value. One business proposed to use this waste product to address another waste problem: 18.9 million tonnes of menstrual waste created in Nepal alone takes 600 to 800 years to degrade, but are currently mostly incinerated, creating carbon emissions. This business proposal uses natural and renewable materials to create a biodegradable and chemical-free product which biodegrades in three to six weeks. Based on previous experience of this social enterprise of working with biowaste from the hospitality sector, there are tentative plans to investigate the creation of biodigesters to create additional value. Banana farming takes place in 66 districts of Nepal, and once banana trees fruit, they are cut down, so there is a ready supply of waste material to tap into. This creates added value for the farmers, for whom this now becomes an additional commodity. This makes this a scalable business proposal: working on small-scale localised production, but in multiple locations. The banana leaves are initially shredded and cut into smaller fibres, and encased in a polymer bioplastic. This process was initially carried out by hand by a local workforce of women, but this production process is currently being semi-automated, developing compact, low-energy-intensive machines to make it less labour intensive but thereby more inclusive for workers who currently are not able to fully take part in the marketplace. The local workforce is also the local market.

“This is a social enterprise. Whoever is producing our product, we tell them that the products that we make will be benefiting the community itself. The first benefitting are the women directly because they are getting employment. Second is the environment because agro-waste has been used. Thirdly, the profit which is generated of the selling of the products, we carry on different donating and carry out different awareness programmes. We have already carried out three sanitary-pad awareness campaigns where we talk about menstruation, health and hygiene and we distribute re-usable sanitary pads in the community.” (interviewee)

3.2.2. Place

Considering the locale of where these materials grow, and which communities of craft makers already had the necessary skills and knowledge to use these materials, were key factors. Yak wool, for example, is sourced from herds tended to a by the nomadic Drokpa community in the Mustang district, bordering Tibet. However, the enduring pandemic made access to this community difficult. Yak hair, although traditionally processed, now has little use or value for this traditional community, so this proposition would enable a waste product to be given value and the community to be able to raise additional income through the sale and processing of the yak hair. Similarly, the ‘pyan’ or bamboo containers come from a particular area in the Godawari municipality in the Kailali district, where the bamboo grows and a skilled crafts community resides. Thus, the locale of the region is critical to the source of material and for skilled crafts people. These young entrepreneurs are keenly aware that many of these traditional skills and knowledge bases are at risk of disappearing:

“The craft is slowly disappearing. Today there are only two artisans left who do the craft [of bamboo container making]. We are trying to revive dying traditions and bring it to the market.” (interviewee)

In the case of the bamboo containers, the project incorporates the entire process. As the bamboo is currently supplied from external sources rather than from local supplies, the plan includes a future local bamboo plantation, with the processing of the raw material as well as production. This makes the business less prone to outside supply chains, an advantage outlined in the Ellen Macarthur Foundation report [16]. The ‘hapa’ is made from fired bamboo, cut into sheets and hand stitched together into a container, without glue. The lid has been designed with either an open-weave or closed construction, and with or without a lock, to enable different contents to be stored. The afterlife of the product is also carefully considered. The inclusion of a ‘secret seed,’ for example, in the corrugated-card packaging can germinate if composted. Thus, the closed-loop approach to the product becomes an integral part of the business.

3.2.3. People

The active engagement of the craft practitioner and their wider communities resonated in several projects, and was arguably the key to those poised for longer-term success. Integral to this community engagement was a long-term vision and a willingness to actively listen and take the ‘slow’ [37] approach to building up relationships and trust.

“Actually, it is more than an agreement, but rather expectations for them as well as us, that we are partners rather than buyers and sellers. It is a partnership.” (interviewee)

One business incorporated the ethos of partnership into their name, meaning collaboration and harmony. Their engagement with the mountain communities came from personal connections, which saw first-hand the impact of climate change on the nomadic community, who rely directly on the environment for their livelihood: less grazing for their cattle, and erratic weather, such as unexpected snowfall. The business helped them to diversify and reconsider the value of existing resources:

“They were rich in so [much] indigenous knowledge. They had been using animal products for so many years, centuries…That is how the idea was born; to help them diversify their livelihood. Since they are so dependent on the yak milk, the yak dung and the inner wool. But the outer wool had become obsolete. Traditionally this was used for making tents and sacks. But now their tents and sacks are made from synthetic materials from China that can be bought easily for very cheap rates at the market. So the outer hair was not being used much. So we wanted to revitalise, and re-use the outer hair.” (interviewee)

The wool is bought from the herders direct, whilst the intention is to work longer term with that same community on creating extra value, by separating the fibres (outer from inner), cleaning, carding and spinning the wool into yarn (carried out by men) and finally, woven into fabric for rugs (by women). This is currently done by former herders now living a settled urban life, but who still have the necessary skills. In the longer term, the yak-wool fabric will be turned into higher-value products such as wooden furniture. The traditional tents made from outer yak hair are built to last, and are handed down the generations. This expectation for longevity and durability is a key selling point for the new, contemporary products created from the yak hair.

Another business offered training in toolmaking and mentorship to the bamboo-crafts community, with a particular focus on women and young people. Likewise, the business using banana waste to produce sanitary products worked closely with women. This is of particular relevance in Nepal, as research by the UNFPA [38] indicated that women, and indigenous women in particular, were more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on their communities. This was also a key objective of the British Council funding strategy for this project. The training offered through these enterprises then, enables this particularly vulnerable group to build up skills and, expand their knowledge, and can be a useful tool in the process of adaptation and resilience of local communities to climate change. Here, then, the craft product becomes a vehicle for community engagement. In the case of the bamboo business, the training offered set out to enhance the craft skills already present with other skills, such as toolmaking, finishing skills, design and presentation skills (drawing, measurement, record keeping), and marketing. Arguably the approach to design is an imported Western approach, and contemporary design training is modelled on Western schooling. Its approach is ‘modern’ in the sense that the tools are those of a modern (capitalist) market model, where design and marketability are critical. This was evident too in the application of engineering solutions to increase the production of handlooms by semi-automation. Another business approach was tailored to increase productivity and thus profitability of artisan production, particularly affecting women handweavers. By improving the design and construction of the vertical and horizontal looms to ‘be more ergonomic’ and ‘user-friendly’, paying particular attention to differently abled bodies, these looms constructed from old furniture could offer employment to women. Even though the process of weaving with natural fibres and using recycled timber furniture ensured a sustainable-business model in terms of profit and planet, this approach did not specifically embrace a local community of weavers or incorporate nature-inspired climate solutions, but rather proposed increased productivity through increased efficiency. This lack of engagement with community arguably impacted on the long-term viability of this business. Important here, then, is the framing of the lo-TEK [36] approach, where design is applied to and enhances existing traditional ecological knowledge. It is striking that the entrepreneurs are actively trying to save some of this traditional knowledge through their enterprises. The workshops and training sessions also enabled trust to be built between the entrepreneurs and the crafts community, and for communication skills to be developed.

“After the workshop we had better interaction and we were able to build a better relationship. [ ] They had never had such a workshop before. People just came and went. So they focussed on it, believing it was for their own development. Then they started communicating better, and we even went on outings together. They invited us on family gatherings. After we started communicating better, the product improved too.” (interviewee)

Whilst these crafted products originate from specific regions and localities, the lo-TEK approach—with the input of creative design, applied to natural materials and made with traditional skills— has an analogy with the food industry, which has borrowed the term ‘craft’, often to denote fusion products which marry tradition and authenticity with contemporary flair and taste. For example, European-beer traditions exported to North America were re-imagined by small American-beer producers, and re-imported as a ‘craft beer’ tradition into Europe. Here too, the local artisanal traditions are re-vitalised by a fusion approach of external factors (design), which re-position traditional artefacts within a new tradition. It was noteworthy that the entrepreneurs’ approaches were often deferential to these traditions but able to reference them with difference. In addition to a long-term commitment to the communities with whom they were working, there was also a clear engagement to support the survival of skills on the verge of being lost. The pandemic, too, has impacted these crafts communities adversely, as many of them relied heavily on tourism.

“We want to have a museum and an outlet. People suggested that we do that in the Kupondole area for good market prospects. That is a possibility, but we want our first outlet to be in Pyan Gaun so that people come there not just for the product but also for the culture and tradition.” (interviewee)

In the long term, this may have to change, as international long-haul travel becomes socially and environmentally unacceptable. Instead, a more-local market may need to be created.

A key communication strategy to capitalise on this local richness was evident, and critical to several of the businesses. The emerging partnerships thus often shared skills, where the designers contributed not only design skills, but also marketing and branding skills. This was particularly evident in one business, which put the ethical consumer at the heart of its business whilst fully integrating local producers of yoghurt. This local speciality was given a systematic overhaul, to revive the local yoghurt-making culture, reviving century old recipes which use honey instead of refined sugar for example, and reviving traditional craft production too, by integrating traditions into the packaging process. The ceramic pots are made from local terracotta, which in turn imparts a unique flavour to the yoghurt, packed tightly with a wooden lid and fastened with locally made twine.

“It’s not only about the yoghurt, it’s about the pottery makers, it’s about the weavers, it’s about the woodworkers who make the lid, and the yoghurt makers themselves. There is about four communities of craft practitioners who work to bring this one product to life. [ ] Packaging is part of the product itself.” (interviewee)

Here too, the decline and demise of local-craft traditions and livelihoods and observed plastic pollution were the impetus for this business. The producers operate within a two-mile radius, thus making this a very localised production. The business actively connected a previously disconnected ecosystem of production centres. The business here thus built a social structure as much as a production infrastructure, by re-invigorating local producers:

“[the crafts communities] were losing like the society itself, they were abandoning their cultural thing, their craft because there is no more work. So when I went to the pottery, they were doing knock-off work, they were seeing some kind of design, they were copying it… they was no kind of personal thing coming out of them, and I think the project actually gave them something to actually proud of: ok, this actually came from us.” (interviewee)

The clay used for the yoghurt pots is of a better quality, to ensure that they can be used for longer than normal practice and can be upcycled and used in other contexts, as stackable kitchen containers, for example. When at the end of life, the ceramics can be ground up and recycled as a construction material. The commitment to engaging the community in the long term requires a build-up of trust.

“Actually, it is more than an agreement, but rather expectations for them as well as us, that we are partners rather than buyers and sellers. It is a partnership.” (interviewee)

As was noted by the mentors in this project, identity played a critical part in the majority of these projects: local connections to regions and communities helped embed these projects, but were not a prerequisite for these businesses in order to consider place.

“We are figuring out how to save our own uniqueness, and still collaborate with others and still create a market for an entire community.” (interview mentor)

3.2.4. Profit

Thus, this longer-term investment in the community is envisioned to generate financial sustainability for both business and community. The majority of the money flows back to the community through payments to local producers.

“When we asked how much would you want for the product, they won’t tell us directly. They just smile, ad say give whatever. And because this outer hair is not being traded as much now, there is no market price for it. So, it has been a challenge for us to pay fairly. We don’t want to overpay either, because it is a business after all. So, communication wise it has been a challenge, regarding pricing and all that.’ (interviewee)

“We are not creating the yoghurt, we are not creating the pots but we are creating the systems.” (interviewee)

The value here, then, is the system design which distributes value across the five Ps. As was noted by the business mentor, this system has the capacity to be applied and its process replicated in other contexts:

“You work not just on one aspect but on the whole cycle. It includes responsibilities, starting point, ending point. You have to think of everything before you start working. [ ] The important part is the community can work independently. The community needs to be gathered. And if a second party shows an interest, they too can work independently and responsibly with the same community [of crafts people]. If you are a little bit irresponsible it impacts your benefits as well.” (interview mentor)

However, critical to the success is financial sustainability as the cornerstone of any of these businesses: without financial sustainability, the social, environmental, and local sustainability are untenable. On reflection then, these businesses are aligned to the QBL. They challenge linear-growth models, where only financial sustainability is counted. By considering sustainability of these purpose-driven business in terms of planet, people and place, its profitability is enhanced.

“He was talking not just of replacing plastic. He wasn’t working on the surface but in depth. I was able to make that reflection.: that he is working with understanding and is able to make people understand. This is the reason that he is selling the products at a 60% higher rate than market rate.” (interview mentor)

3.2.5. Purpose

This approach then, is about enabling. It is about mutual support and regenerative design, an ethos which is transferrable. These businesses embed their purpose from the outset: to ‘find value in materials’, re-use and re-purpose packaging materials, and to do so with the intention of behavioural change:

“To bring people back to this idea of re-use then that would be the greatest value to us at this moment.” (interviewee)

The value lies not in the material products produced, but rather in the ethos and approach to making, to creating value, questioning supply chains, re-organising and creating local value systems. Much like the export of craft-beer making, its re-imagination created new appraisal—and value—of old techniques and methods and materials. These ideas can be exported and applied locally.

“Just because a product it itself is better, people might not buy it. You need to have a certain kind of value sharing with your consumers, with your manufactures, with your producers, with the farmers, so that this can become a product that people buy and use for the long run.” (interview mentor)

These young entrepreneurs highlighted possible nature-inspired climate solutions as viable business propositions. This community of budding entrepreneurs was introduced to the Scottish crafts community, enabled through a Royal-Society-of-Edinburgh (RSE) grant.

4. Discussion

Braungart and McDonough re-imagine the Law of Return—adopted by early agriculturalists, and which accepted that the farmer had to try and ‘repay the earth for what he took from it’ ([9], p. 2)—for materials which support the biosphere, rather than pollute or destroy. We posit that this critical acknowledgement can be conceptualised by the cultural-ecosystem-services approach [39,40,41], which argues that natural-ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services) are critical systems for human dependence on the Earth’s systems. Cultural-ecosystem services are defined here as ‘the individual or shared human benefits to human well-being that arise from the interactions between environmental spaces (e.g., gardens, parks, beaches and landscapes) and cultural practices (e.g., gardening, walking, painting and watching wildlife)’ ([41], p. 5). The report goes on to say that culture is not a property of the ecosystem per se, but develops over time, through interaction between people, their values and the environment in which they operate. Cultural-ecosystem services (CES) in particular ‘give rise to a range of material and non-material benefits to human well-being but are frequently overlooked in decision-making’ ([41], p. 5). The importance of context—spatial, temporal and socio-cultural—is seen as fundamental in the shaping and articulation of human values ([42], p. 4). Culture and nature are conceptualised as inseparable.

Inayatullah [23] and Walters and Takamura [43] both argue that the role of culture, and indigenous culture in particular, is a critical factor too in the Triple-Bottom-Line framework. Walters and Takamura argue for ‘the decolonisation of the Western view of economic development, innovation, and entrepreneurship’ and rather for re-imagining it as a model in which culture is a ‘wellspring of innovation and entrepreneurship’ ([43], p. 78) which does not mean a rejection of Western knowledge per se, but rather a re-centring of local knowledge bases and world views, as is argued also by Garoutte [44] and Watson [36] in terms of material knowledge and solutions to climate change. Walter and Takumaru’s argument for culture to be acknowledged as a key factor can thus be found in the CES approach. This is arguably also reflected in the fourth P (purpose), as outlined earlier, as it reflects the general cultural and contextual setting in which a sustainable business operates. However, this paper proposes that the role of the local ecosystems and of locally available resources is the fifth and final critical part which has not been made explicit in the Quadruple-Bottom-Line approach. As such, we propose to differentiate between the cultural and anthropocentric aspect embodied in purpose, but propose to add a final fifth ‘P’ to represent ‘place’ and the local ecosystems which support the CES outlined above. What are the natural resources and materials which can be sourced locally, thus shortening the supply chain, supporting local economies and local communities, and which are informed by local customs, traditions, and cultures? As such, we propose the Quintuple Bottom Line of the five Ps: purpose-driven businesses which place economic profitability alongside social responsibility and environmental sustainability, and which are rooted in place: purpose, profit, people, planet and place. The Quintuple Bottom Line abbreviates to QBL which is the same as that used for the Quadruple Bottom Line hence the use of the five Ps as shorthand for the Quintuple Bottom Line. As purpose applies across the Triple Bottom Line of profit, people and plant, it is argued that so does place.

The Quintuple Bottom Line proposed here reflects the increased shift towards a more localised economy, with reduced carbon miles, and benefiting local communities; this is arguably an embodiment of E. F. Schumacher’s [7] ‘study of economics as if people mattered’, which trailblazed the essence of purpose-driven, decentralised economies. The premise of the five Ps or Quintuple Bottom Line is thus taken as a framing device here, to consider how craft businesses frame values which are beyond the economic (financial) ones, and which include social, environmental and local values, and purpose-driven businesses. Critically, craft businesses built around fully sustainable principles embodied in the five Ps have the capacity to support a regenerative economy through regenerative design. The small scale of the craft businesses in this study enabled a questioning of supply chains, the experimenting with materials to explore alternatives, and a social engagement with local suppliers, communities and infrastructure. Conversely, the human-resource capacity of these SMEs meant that a dipropionate amount of time was invested in sourcing alternative supply chains, calculating carbon footprints and experimenting with alternative materials, for which processes larger corporations might have dedicated staff and resources.

As outlined above, the importance of place is already well established in the ecosystem-services approach, and applies particularly well to culture, as outlined in cultural-ecosystem Services. However, this paper posits that the Quintuple-Bottom-Line framework, supported by evidence from the craft industry, highlights the importance of place for sustainable entrepreneurship and business, thus extending beyond the framing of culture alone. This paper contends that the framing of place can be generalised within the context of sustainable entrepreneurship in the creative industries, which are rooted in material applications. It is clear this may not apply to those creative businesses which are not material-based, or which rely on a globalized-supply-chain or market. The five Ps can thus be applied to other creative businesses which have a significant material footprint, such as design and architecture. However, this paper puts forward the idea that thinking through the importance of locality through the five-Ps framework might support broader reflections on the importance of place to other creative businesses beyond craft, design or architecture, such as music, film, gaming and others.