This research departs from the assumption that is not appropriate to argue if the designer must or not to act attached to the handicraft segment but, indeed, how his action must take place. The increasing partnership of the designer attached to the productive chain of the handicraft establishes the presence of this professional in this segment and shapes a crescent field towards the joined operation of designers and craftsmen. This partnership aims, though the commercialization of the handicraft products, the self- sufficiency of the craftsmen and the handicraft communities in our country. In this research is pointed out the intermediation and the participation of designers in the process of recognition of the handicraft in the Brazilian society. The study presents the handicraft categories and their particularities, defining parameters for the performance of the designers in this segment. The research proposes basic directives for the performance of the designer, beginning with the respect and valorization of cultural references of craftsmen and communities. And, the research establishes that the joint performance of designers and craftsmen must envisage, as common objective, to aggregate commercial value to the handicraft products, maximizing their processes of production, commercialization, divulgation and maintenance, aiming to the self-sustaining handicraft segment.