The craftsman style in archtitecture has seen a tremendous resurgance in popularity since the late 90s. People seem to more and more value the attention to detail and appreciation for natural materials.

Small home arts & crafts are increasingly more popular (did you know scrapbooking is a >$3 billion industry in the US?). Look at the popularity of Etsy.com: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124684

I feel like society is going in 2 directions. One the hand, people are willing to accept low/lower quality in items/services, in particular if they're being made free. But also the availablity of information in the form of online instruction and tutorials is reducing the barriers of entry for many individuals, sparking their interest in hand-made high-quality items.

Other than saying I agree with this article, I don't really have a point here, just voicing some thoughts I've been pondering quite a bit in the last couple months.