A Darker Side of Creative Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This article aims to contrast positive interpretations of enterprise in creative work, which are characterised by freedom, autonomy and choice with less optimistic accounts of the nature of enterprise in the creative industries. By examining extant literature, it illustrates the entrepreneurial responses of designers to instable and dynamic market conditions. It charts how designers adapt to market forces by reconciling creative and commercial pressures, enhancing their labour mobility and commercialising their own labour potential. This article argues that designer’s normative feelings about their work enable them to reconcile the challenging aspects of their work.