Stephen Fraser is one of the founders of Spoonflower, an on-demand custom fabric company founded in 2008 in a former sock mill in Mebane. Now located in Durham, Spoonflower boasts more than 100000 users drawn to its website through word of mouth via the “craft blogosphere.” Twenty-five percent of the company’s business comes from dozens of countries overseas, and the growing Spoonflower community participates in a popular weekly fabric design contest. Artistic talent is becoming an asset to a wide range of employers who thrive on creative approaches to their businesses and value the right-brain skills associated with the arts. Arts-related industries can be catalysts for high-skill employment in sectors such as technology. Learn more about these workers at www.ncarts.org