Product Placement

If the world were in search of a true craft capital, Japan might well fill the bill. Whether the medium is basketry or ceramics or textiles, the Pacific Rim country has a history steeped in work guided by the hand. And though tradition-rich, Japan has also embraced technological advances as few other nations have, and the blending of the two strands has led to impressive endeavors on all fronts.

Wherever he goes, be it a restaurant or a friend's new house in Tuscany, Cosimo Terzani can't help but notice the light.

"It's the first thing I look at," says the 27-year-old, who is an executive in his family's business, a Florentine maker of high-end lamps and lighting fixtures. "Light is the most important thing."