My 4-year-old daughter's eyes light up when she spies something sitting on the work table. Unlike her normal playtime preferences, it is not a rainbow-haired unicorn, felt tip pens or a plastic doll that has caught her attention — it's an industrial looking electric screwdriver.
It is perhaps fair to say that the idea of mixing electric tools with young children is something that any sane parent, myself included, would normally go well out of their way to avoid. Yet I recently put my parental reservations on hold when I took my two daughters — aged 2 and 4 — to a resolutely family-friendly furniture-making workshop in Tokyo.
The workshops are run by Ishinomaki Laboratory, an inspiringly creative and community-focused company that was established in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster. The concept was the brainchild of Tokyo-based architect Keiji Ashizawa, who hoped to help revitalize the northeastern city of Ishinomaki, which was devastated in the tsunami, by empowering locals to rebuild their homes and businesses at do-it-yourself furniture workshops.