Japan’s 11th community-based workshop Fab Lab DAZAIFU is located in Dazaifu, Fukuoka. This fab lab is unique in that it is operated by a private organization – GooDay, a chain of home improvement stores around northern Kyushu. Among the various digital tools available is Roland DG’s LEF-12 UV printer.

Roland DG’s custom vehicle – first unveiled in February 2019 and equipped with our digital tools to give visitors unique, fun experiences like creating their very own accessories – has been given an official name: COTOVAN! It recently made its first mobile workshop tour to several GooDay home improvement stores located around northern Kyushu in Japan.

The dream trip of a lifetime is now a reality for a former Bosnian war refugee and current Arizona sign shop owner Mladen Mirkovic. Mirkovic was the winner of the Grand Prize in Roland DG’s Discover Roland/Explore Africa Contest – an all-expenses paid, luxury African sightseeing safari for two.

The Honda Welcome Plaza AOYAMA located on the first floor of the Honda AOYAMA Building in Aoyama, Tokyo, recently displayed a customized Honda N-VAN minivan which gave visitors an opportunity to express their own sense of style using Roland DG’s digital tools including a UV printer.

Miyuki Inc., better known as Miyuki Acryl, is a well-established local fabricator with a studio-gallery in Kita-Ayase in Adachi, Tokyo that machines and fabricates various items such as accessories from acrylic. Passionate about expressing the beauty of acrylic, Miyuki Acryl sells its own brand of acrylic materials and uses Roland DG’s LEF series UV printers to decorate them.

FabCafe Tokyo in Shibuya, which was previously featured in this blog, has kicked off a new project aimed at supporting young designers.

andMade.kitasando, a makerspace for handmade, fashion-oriented goods located in Sendagaya, Tokyo that was previously featured in this blog, reopened this fall with a fresh new look combining an event and exhibition space with a fabrication studio. We spoke with store manager Naoto Suzuki (pictured above) to provide details about previous activities and future objectives.

Lion Corporation, a leading Japanese manufacturer of household supplies, recently held a promotional event, giving visitors a personalized fragrance experience from the SOFLAN Aroma Rich range of aromatic fabric softeners. The popup gallery, “Sense Your Aroma Gallery Produced by Aroma Rich,” was open to the public in Omotesando, Tokyo between August 4th and 7th allowing visitors to discover their very own fragrance.

The LIMITS Digital Art Battle World Grand Prix 2018 was held at Shibuya Hikarie Hall (Hall-A) in Tokyo over the May 12-13 weekend. Roland DG sponsored the event to support the creative activities of artists utilizing digital technology, and also assisted with the production of official merchandise.

A new approach to learning called STEAM education is growing in popularity throughout China and Roland DG’s sales and marketing subsidiary in China, Roland DG China (DGC), is playing a key role in its implementation. To find out more about this initiative, we talked with Cheng Qi, marketing manager at DGC.

International brand Moleskine held its MOLESKINE TRADE SHOW Spring/Summer 2018 annual event on November 15 and 16 in Tokyo.

Membership-based factory Makers’ Base recently launched its new permanent shop Makers’ Base Chiba in the JUNNU wing of the Sogo Chiba department store in Chiba, Japan. Continuing from the first part of this blog series, Junpei Matsuda (photo, above), COO of Makers’ Inc., talked about the services available at Makers’ Base Chiba, as well as plans for the future.