The present dissertation deals with design as a strategy of social innovation, through the understanding of the use of its methodologies for the development of social technologies. It investigates how design methodologies, used in the practice of projects / productive groups / solidary enterprises with handcraft production become social technologies, and can be reapplied. For that, a bibliographic review was carried out on concepts such as social innovation, appropriate technology, collaborative practice, social technology, sustainability and codesign, among others; a survey of principles and parameters of social technology formation was done; and a multiple case studies was conducted, with analysis of four groups working the relationship between design and the handcraft, including research instruments as online questionnaire and interviews, mapping initiatives, and data analysis with cross-information. Then a discussion about the methodological models adopted by the initiatives of the four studied groups follows, and comparative tables are elaborated in order to give visibility to the findings of the research. The study found that in the process of social innovation, design contributes with its methodologies, among other things, to the generation of social technologies aimed at a better quality of life for people, local development and social transformation.