Kobe Font, a Co-Creation Project by Designers and People with Disabilities

　On September 12, “PLAST” (4 Armbuzuka-cho, Nagata-ku, Kobe City), a medical, nursing care, and welfare company, announced the launch of “Kobe Font,” a co-creation project by designers and people with disabilities.

The theme of the project is “Kobe Font,” which is based on the artist’s favorite things and subjects typical of Kobe, and drawn freely.

　In this project, which was launched in May of this year, pictures and letters drawn by people with disabilities who live and work in Kobe are sublimated into graphic data by designers and students who aspire to become designers (Kobe Design University). By connecting people with disabilities with society and the market through art, a portion of the proceeds will be returned to people with disabilities who have no experience in presenting their work.

　Designers and students will not only be able to be involved in the field of welfare, which they have not been connected to before, but will also be able to use the artwork they create as a part of their own career.

　Project director Kazuma Kita said, “When the students visited our continuous employment support center, the disabled people who had been reluctant to draw were able to proceed with their drawings under the guidance of the students. We also saw that the students were impressed by the coloring of the people with disabilities,” she said.

　The goal of the project is to make art by people with disabilities available and commonplace throughout Kobe. In the future, we plan to collaborate not only with our own continuous employment support facilities, but also with other continuous employment support facilities,” he added.

　In March of next year, “Gotochi Font,” a general incorporated association run by Shibuya Font, in which the project participates, plans to download and distribute some of the completed works.