Japanese volunteer wants to elevate Philippine design through FabLab

MANILA, Philippines -Young Japanese volunteer Yutaka Tokushima has been living in Bohol for over a year now. He is one of the many young professionals working with key industries in the Philippines under the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) Program of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Bohol’s creative industry teems with possibilities, not just in the performing arts, music, and architecture, but also in crafts and design.

“Product design and packaging are a big challenge for manufacturers in Bohol,” said Tokushima. “But helping the local manufacturers adapt to new technology is one way to address it.”

Bohol manufacturers have had problems executing their designs as most of these are still done by sketching. Ideas are usually not executed properly since designs are converted to a product prototype by hand.

But Bohol manufacturers are going forward, taking their designs to the world stage one step at a time, through the FabLab project (Fabrication Laboratory) with the assistance of Tokushima.

FabLab began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to help grassroots communities translate their design ideas into physical forms with the help of computers. The concept was such a success that it already has a global network, which includes USA, Kenya, and Afghanistan.

With FabLab, design ideas (like a bayong bag in contemporary shape) will be executed properly into actual forms.

The FabLab project is a collaboration of JICA through its JOCV program, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Bohol, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Bohol Island State University (BISU).

“We’ve institutionalized FabLab because we know that creativity and innovation are key drivers of economic development. We want to promote sharing of knowledge and build creative industry entrepreneurs in Bohol,” said Blair Panong, senior trade and industry development specialist of DTI-Bohol.