Supporting a Community Workshop in Matsukawa

Matsukawa, in Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, is a town of fewer than 10,000 people with abundant forest resources. Since 2020, VUILD has worked alongside the town with the aim of democratizing making through the ShopBot, so that each resident can become someone who builds the town with their own hands. Starting with a comprehensive regional partnership agreement, VUILD supported everything from launching the hub to the independence of its maker: installing a ShopBot in a closed school, stationing staff in the town under the Local Revitalization Entrepreneur program, mentoring a member of the Local Revitalization Cooperation Team, and developing a combined timber kiln and sauna.

Starting with workshops for high school students (2020)

Rather than introducing machines right away, we began by holding workshops with local high school students to design benches and play equipment from local timber. As part of the town's MMM Project (MATSUKAWA × MAKES × MYLIFE), the first step was to nurture an interest in making things for the town themselves.

Building a workshop in a closed school (2021)

A ShopBot was installed at the former Matsukawa Higashi Elementary School, which closed in 2015. Using the Local Revitalization Entrepreneur program, a VUILD staff member was stationed in the town and launched the operation of the hub.

Welcoming a maker (2022)

Daiya Tanaka joined as a member of the Local Revitalization Cooperation Team. Based in a workshop converted from a classroom, he expanded his activities to furniture for the town office and schools, products made from Minami-Shinshu timber, and planning tours.

Using the town's timber within the town (2024)

A sawmill was relocated within the town, and a combined timber kiln and sauna developed by VUILD was prototyped in Matsukawa. Timber from the town's forests is sawn and dried in the town, machined with the ShopBot, and used as furniture and fixtures for public facilities. This established a "micro sixth-sector industrialization" flow, in which primary (production), secondary (processing), and tertiary (distribution and sales) industries circulate on a small scale within the town.

Independence and ongoing support (2025)

After completing his term, Tanaka became independent and stayed in the town, running the woodworking studio pukto. VUILD continues to collaborate with him through ongoing support, including open studio tours and contract fabrication.

From the hub that VUILD supported, the town has gained makers and a system for making.

As the woodworking studio pukto, Daiya Tanaka is based at the former Matsukawa Higashi Elementary School, where he creates furniture and fixtures for public facilities using local timber. In 2026, the café Soka, created by renovating the school's former kitchen to Tanaka's design, opened. With partition walls, a counter, and a raised seating area made from Nagano-grown larch, hinoki cypress, and cedar, it has become a gathering place for everyone from local seniors to young people from outside the prefecture and the school's alumni.

In the partial renovation of the town library, room was intentionally left for residents to take part in the work. Designed by Tanaka based on ideas from university interns, a kids' corner surrounded by curved columns inspired by the shape of an apple and undulating bookshelves were made entirely from hinoki cypress and cedar grown in the town. Tanaka handled the fabrication at the workshop in the former Matsukawa Higashi Elementary School, and residents joined in part of the assembly. Twelve local families each made a chair for use in the library, and students from Matsukawa Junior High School helped build the bookshelves after school. While keeping costs well below those of hiring a contractor, the project gave residents a chance to experience local timber and what they can make with their own hands, and the town is now looking to extend this approach to other public facilities.

In fiscal 2023, a Digital Craft Club was launched as a junior high school club activity as part of the MMM Project, with Tanaka as its instructor. Students cut desks and chairs of their own design with the ShopBot and assemble them at the workshop in the former Matsukawa Higashi Elementary School. Together with their participation in building the library bookshelves, this has created opportunities for children to take a real part in shaping their town.

As residents and children have joined the micro sixth-sector flow, from sawing the town's timber to processing it and using it in the town, the very motivation to use local timber is growing.

The goal is not to install a machine, but for the people of the town to become makers through it. Matsukawa is becoming a town that embodies this.