HINT, born from PLAYFUL Lab.

PLAYFUL Lab.
"Bring a playful spirit into your daily life."

Regardless of race, gender, disability, age, or region,
By creating an environment where people can encounter "firsts" in their daily lives,
This project aims to cultivate the power to create a future that does not yet exist.

PLAYFUL Lab. uses discarded materials collected from both inside and outside Awaji Island.
A place where everyone can freely use their hands, experiment, and create.
We value the ideas that arise from working with materials.

In that process,
"You can encounter materials in this way too."
One idea that emerged was a craft kit made from recycled materials.
That is not the complete answer.
This is just one entry point to using the materials.

And one more thing,
To be close to the time spent working with the materials,
It was created to provide the impetus for people to start thinking.
Here's a "HINT".

Here, you encounter materials and create while playing.
Here are some hints from PLAYFUL Lab.
Moving your hands, feeling lost, trying things out,
I gradually encounter my own personal insights.
I want to be a presence that quietly supports people through that process.

From here on, this is a record of what Daisuke Noguchi wants to convey about "how to deal with your own world."

HINT 03 - The World of Imagination -

I was so happy. When they asked me about it, I was honestly a little intimidated and asked, "Am I really allowed to give hints?" Because crafting is an endless world, and there's no right answer. You can do anything, and you can use anything as a hint. I thought it was the work of a god.

So, when I was thinking about what kind of HINT would be good, I thought about it from my own perspective. I realized that maybe I'm always doing crafts because I want to give shape to what's in my head. This time too, ideally, I'd like to reach into my head and pull it out, but to bring it into existence before my eyes, I have no choice but to "make" it. But it's not going so well. It's not what I expected. I also remembered how much I hated this gap between what was in my head and what I ended up with when I was a child.

But the moment a discrepancy arises between what I had imagined in my head and what I was actually creating, a freestyle battle begins where something different from what I had imagined is born. Like, if I put this here, a missile will come out, or these parts will combine. I ended up with something different from what I had envisioned, but that made it even more exciting. The story in my head and the work in front of me started moving together. Naturally, I didn't feel any gap between my expectations and the finished product. From the moment I started creating, I had already entered the world of imagination and become a shipbuilder on a spaceship. Of course it was fun.

Nowadays, it's easy to create anything you imagine. 3D printers can produce the exact shape you want. If you want to know something, you can find the answer instantly with a quick search. But that's a little bland. The answer is already obvious.

I think the essence of HINT3 might be the process of trial and error, and enjoying the detours as you go around in your own world of imagination and fantasy. I feel like kids don't have much attachment to the finished product. When I ask them, "Aren't you going to take it home?", they say, "I don't need it."

But their faces clearly show how much fun they're having while they're working on their projects, and I think even adults will remember that feeling once they start. In other words, the value isn't in the "finished product," but in the time spent creating. That moment of immersion. Entering your own world, imagining, and creating a work of art while letting that story run parallel. Isn't the joy of creating itself what makes people want to do crafts?

I wanted to make this feeling the content of my HINT3. But it was so intuitive that it was incredibly difficult to figure out how to convey it. It would completely break the flow that everyone had been creating, like HINT1 and HINT2, where you focus on one material and try various approaches. I agonized over it. But Mr. Sadaoka, who was in charge, told me, "Noguchi, you can do it the way you want."

So, instead of thinking about a single material for a moment, I thought, how about giving the kids a story to tell while they're making the craft as a hint? Sharing a little bit of my imagination.

Children and adults alike probably enjoy crafting for various reasons and purposes. However, the purpose and enjoyment of crafting can differ from others. It's about taking those different perspectives and trying them out.

"So that's the hint, I see," I thought.

Therefore, in this HINT3, we created a "foundation of imagination" by solving problems in an "imaginary world."

HINT3 includes a story told in a picture-book style to convey the narrative, intended for children to read or have read aloud before starting the craft. The person doing the craft is called a "Craft Hero Researcher," and the idea is to immerse them in an imaginary world.

And the ultimate touch is that HINT3 includes problem cards (craft prompt cards) for imaginary worlds.

[Worry Card]

Dragon slaying
- Rescuing Unpy
・Deep sea treasure search
• Desert oasis
Operation Best Friend

I actually tried making something based on this theme with the rental shop staff, and it was incredibly fun.

The problem cards made it so easy to get started. There were so many unexpected ideas, and the adults were enjoying the crafting like children. It was fantastic!

I hope everyone will give it a try. Ideally, it would be fun to see the children who made the crafts having conversations at school or daycare like, "Which problem did you make?" "I made a poop." "Really? I made a dragon." It would also be interesting if that led to some children coming up with their own themes.

To be honest, I think I stirred things up quite a bit. It was incredibly difficult to translate my feelings into tangible form. There were many times along the way when I stopped and wondered, "Is this really okay?", but in the end, I thought, "If I'm going to do it, this is the way it should be." It was incredibly fun. Having a story naturally gives meaning to "why I'm making it."

That's my hint. It was fun.

ps

When creating HINT3, we always kept a sense of romance in mind. In our meetings, we talked about nostalgic toys, big things, Deluxe, Phoenix, Ultimate—the kind of conversations boys would love. Is this romance? A boy who might be told, "Hey, boy!" I feel like we were possessed by that boy when we came up with this project. That's when the idea of adding cards came up.

Initially, the idea was a material battle game called "Rizai," where players would battle using cards with material descriptions, based on criteria such as rarity, appeal, and ease of use. Each meeting was satisfying, but upon further reflection, I would start to feel uneasy, wondering, "What should we do? Is this going to work?" Ultimately, things started to progress smoothly once we moved away from the material battle game idea.

Daisuke Noguchi

Daisuke Noguchi (Regional Revitalization Cooperation Team)

I believe that by reframing everyday events as opportunities, our perspectives broaden, allowing us to live more joyfully and positively. As a member of the Sumoto City Regional Revitalization Cooperation Team, I see my role as rediscovering and spreading the many important feelings that we often forget. I believe that remembering these seemingly insignificant things is an essential key to the development of the region, society, and ourselves.

Rental shop

Rental Shop is a specialist in creating lively and unexpected moments that break the monotony and rigidity of the situation. They rent out convenient items, things that make you think "What is this?", and even people. Something happens when you rent something, you get involved, and you become connected. They usually perform at Sodate Market and Awaji Island Blues.

The PLAYFUL Lab. page isHere