Many people with disabilities need support in their daily lives. However, it is also true that many can produce work of such high quality that a company could commission them, as long as an environment suited to them is provided.
In Okayama Prefecture, too, the general incorporated association DESIGN GOALs is working on a project in which creators with disabilities and designers form project teams to produce designs requested by companies.
“Kurashiki DESIGN GOALs collection 2024,” an event bringing together 28 shops connected through disability art and hosted by DESIGN GOALs, was held again this autumn at Kojima Civic Exchange Center in Kojima, Kurashiki City.
The information presented was current when this article was published in December 2024. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is the 4th Kurashiki DESIGN GOALs collection 2024?
The Kurashiki DESIGN GOALs collection is an event hosted by the general incorporated association DESIGN GOALs. It was held on Monday, November 4, 2024 (substitute holiday), from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
As with the previous, 3rd event, the theme was the “Takahashi River Basin,” and 28 shops connected through disability art gathered at Kojima Civic Exchange Center.
![[Held November 4 (Mon)] 4th DESIGN GOALs Collection 2024 — 28 shops connected through disability art gather in Kojima!](https://media.kuratoco.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/23000919/DSCF8043.jpg)
The venue
On the day of the event, I arrived at the venue around 10:30 a.m., not long after it opened. Both the lawn plaza and exhibition hall were bustling with people.
The DESIGN GOALs project, which inspired the name “DESIGN GOALs collection,” brings together creators with disabilities and designers in project teams to produce designs requested by companies.
So I expected the venue to attract many people with disabilities, including wheelchair users, but families with children were especially noticeable.
There were also many workshop booths, and the event was lively, with people enthusiastically making things and getting their nails done.
Meanwhile, as I took my time looking at the products at the booths, customers would occasionally appear and greet the shop owners familiarly with a “Hey!” Listening closely to their conversations with the owners, I learned that they were people with connections to the exhibitors, or their family members.
People with disabilities and families alike enjoyed the event, all mingling together.
Event organizer Takahashi Kyoe said:
“I’m glad we could hold the event during such pleasant weather.
The lawn plaza and exhibition hall are bustling, and I’m happy that everyone is mingling so much that it’s hard to tell who has a disability and who doesn’t. Lots of creators involved in the DESIGN GOALs project have come, too.”
She said with a smile.
While I was talking with Takahashi, more and more people with disabilities who looked up to her, along with their families, gathered around.
DESIGN GOALs collection, bringing together lots of delicious food
The DESIGN GOALs collection aims to let “everyone enjoy themselves together,” regardless of whether they have a disability.
The lawn plaza was lined with shops actively engaged in the SDGs. Many of them had people with disabilities involved in the production process. Yet their food was not home-style fare like something made in a cooking class; it was all restaurant-quality.
From the carbonara at Restaurant A La Maison, made with cheese shaved fresh at your table, and the juicy grilled chicken at BONITA’S PINOY SARISARI STORE, to the charmingly wrapped Motoya-Koji Cafe Kurashiki Okara Cookies and the baked goods from Patisserie Le Vert, a familiar sight at Kurashiki markets...
Whether or not they were there to support people with disabilities, all the food looked so delicious that just looking at it made our mouths water, and we enjoyed ourselves until we were full.
Try a workshop at Kirari’s Button Badge Shop
A wide variety of workshops were held in the exhibition hall.
I was especially looking forward to the workshop “Kirari’s Button Badge Shop” by Hoshi Kirari, who has previously participated in the DESIGN GOALs project.
Hoshi Kirari, who has a physical disability and uses a wheelchair due to spina bifida, expresses her unique worldview through artwork depicting insects and fish, using glitter pens.
On the day of the event, participants could turn one of Kirari’s fish drawings inspired by the Takahashi River into a button badge, color in a fish drawing in their own way, or create an original picture from scratch.
Everyone could make their own unique button badge.
I colored in a fish drawing and made it into a button badge.
The pictures for the button badges are very small, so dotting them requires concentration. As I immersed myself in the task, I was able to leave everyday life behind and enter my own world.
Once I had finished drawing, it was time to make the button badge.
I was worried that, because I have a hearing impairment, I might not be able to follow the instructions. But Kirari’s mother, who was helping at the booth, explained the steps in sign language, so I was able to make my badge without any trouble.
I grew attached to the button badge I had made and couldn’t resist pinning it to my chest right there.
From the Writer
Beneath a clear blue sky, delicious aromas from the food stalls drifted from all directions, while the bright exhibition hall rang with the voices of children enjoying the workshops. Families and people with disabilities and their families were all together in the same space as a matter of course, and no one among the visitors thought it unusual. It was truly an inclusive atmosphere at DESIGN GOALs collection.
More places where visitors can enjoy themselves at their own pace, regardless of whether they have a disability, expand the choices available to people with disabilities and their families. I hope there will be more events where people of all circumstances feel, “This is a place I can go, too.”
4th DESIGN GOALs collection 2024 Information
| Name | 4th DESIGN GOALs collection 2024 |
|---|---|
| Date | November 4, 2024 (Monday, national holiday), 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. |
| Location | 2-2-38 Ajino, Kojima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Admission | Free admission |
| Website | DESIGN GOALs General Incorporated Association Instagram |
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