Wendy W. Rosen, publisher of AmericanStyle magazine and president of The Rosen Group, has been appointed a United States representative to the World Crafts Council and a board member of the council’s North America region.

The mission of the World Crafts Council is to strengthen the status of crafts as a vital part of cultural and economic life worldwide.

“My goals are to assess and share best practices and to better understand the devastating effect that intellectual property theft has on artisans worldwide,” Rosen said. “Artisans and related small businesses provide a cultural foundation for sustainable economies in communities all over the world, not just in the United States.”

She added: “Jobs and communities are endangered when the artists’ designs are stolen, and when predatory manufacturers label sweatshop-made copies as authentic cultural artwork. The goals are to find common practices for labeling and identifying authentic craft products and to stop fraudulent practices.”

JCK