A citizens' workshop opens in the neighborhood
In 2013, "FABLAB Kitakagaya," a citizens' workshop equipped with digital fabrication machines such as laser cutters, opened in Kitakagaya. In January, before it opened, we held a study session with farm members to think about what we could make. The first project decided there was the "Farm Tool Logo Engraving Workshop" in May. We engraved a logo on the tools we always use on the farm, such as shovels, rakes and hoes.
A tool born from members' needs
Next we took on "Minna Cargo." When you crouch for a long time thinning seedlings and the like, your legs and back start to hurt. This mobile seat with built-in storage came out of that worry among farm members. It was designed by contemporary artist Osamu Kokufu, and the precise cutting of the materials was done by FABLAB's machines. It is a tool made by three parties together: the artist, the workshop's engineers, and the farm members who use it.
We unveiled it at the 2013 "Minna no Uen Festival" and began assembly workshops that winter. In 2014 we held two in conjunction with the memorial exhibition for Mr. Kokufu, and another in May 2016. Eighty percent of the work is sanding the parts. How much you round the corners changes the look, and your attachment grows. Before we knew it, about 30 carts had gone out into the world.
The power to make, which strengthens a place
With digital data, you can cut the same pieces whenever you like. Practical art that can be reproduced when needed. That was the concept of Minna Cargo.
A farm is a place where problems are easy to see. When a workshop with the skills to make things joins in, those problems become the theme for making a tool. Things you make with your own hands are cared for. I believe the combination of farming and making still has a lot of potential.