Make: Ogaki Meeting 01
September 25th-26th 2010
Tokyo has held MAKE meetings for a number of years now but this was the first MAKE meeting to be held elsewhere in the country and ran for 2 days in Ogaki (大垣), Gifu prefecture. Being located between Osaka and Nagoya it is a perfect position for creators in the Kansai and Tokai region to show off and sell their DIY creations. There were quite a number of groups and individuals from Nagoya but some people had come from further afield and there were a few I recognised from the Tokyo MAKE meetings. As to be expected it was smaller in scale than the Tokyo events but nonetheless very exciting to attend. I hope the Ogaki MAKE meeting will grow even bigger in the future.
Techno shugeibu
I had booked an "LED fox glove" workshop with the Tokyo based Techno Shugeibu. They are a totally inspiring craft group who combine technology, usually involving LEDs and conductive thread and have just published their first book which contains detailed instructions on how to replicate their creations! I think the workshop lasted about 2 hours (I was lost in concentration for the most part) and participants of both genders and varying ages chose a glove and 2 LEDs to make a fox glove puppet thats eyes light up when thumb and index finger touch each other. It is a simple electronic circuit that is made possible with a conductive thread that can be sewn into the glove. The battery is sewn into the cuff of the glove. I had a minor mishap with crossed wires but it taught me not to sew the circuit lines too close to each other! My first electronics in about 15 years and I wanna try more! Techno shugei FTW!
PWMASWY- People who make awesome sh...stuff with yarn
Next stop, a group of awesome knitters, crocheters and weavers. Nice to see some fibre artists in a predominantly electronic based event. No techno this time, but we're not talking doilies and toilet paper covers, these women regurgitate ideas from their brain through their hands into amazing unique fibre creations. From beards, to eyeballs, to octopus tentacles, if you can think it, they make it.
Beautiful wearable beards made by Octopusmountain AKA Tokkyu2222 who came all the way out from her home on Sado Island (that's north of Niigata in the Japan sea...that's far btw) to display these beauties. As an avid beard fan I immediately fell in love with them and she was gracious enough to whip me up a small moustache in 5 minutes. Any resemblance to a German dictator is pure coincidence.
Handspun yarn and weird creations. Miqurafresshia's obsession shows through in her multiple knitted Octopi and tentacles but she has a wide range of surreal, twisted and dark creations using yarn, beads and resin. Be sure to pick up one of her "Knit or Die!!" bags, all the cool kids have one. And you wanna be one of the cool kids, right?
Aaah 203gow. Possibly the most prolific crocheter of all. Seaslugs, mushrooms, dismembered sexy legs, tree stumps, bird nests, aliens...the list goes on. God knows how she does it. These photos do not even represent 1% of what she does, you'll just have to see it in person, or check out her blog. She's starting an amirevolution! Get with it people.
Persika from Ichinomiya, Nagoya, home of a thousand yarn shops. She's not a hobby weaver, she's the real deal! Trained in weaving arts, she weaves as a profession and was quietly card weaving a strap in a corner. As card weaving is relatively unknown in Japan and there is little information written in Japanese she has a small collection of foreign language card weaving books with patterns in.
I wanna be sushi! by Yoshie Noguchi
"HAHAHAHA what the funk is this!" was my first reaction to these colourful felt characters, but there's more to them than just superficial cuteness. Poor Mr Rice just wants to become sushi, so gowaaaan pop some fish/crab/squid/etc. on his head! As you do so, a short episode of that character will be displayed on the monitor. Ingenious.
Anyway, so much more that I didn't capture, my favourite being the barbie doll that screams when you touch her and I just love my plastic coated shrimp ring. Just go there next time, I'll tell you when.
