Roland DG’s custom vehicle – first unveiled in February 2019 and equipped with our digital tools to give visitors unique, fun experiences like creating their very own accessories – has been given an official name: COTOVAN! It recently made its first mobile workshop tour to several GooDay home improvement stores located around northern Kyushu in Japan.

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The dream trip of a lifetime is now a reality for a former Bosnian war refugee and current Arizona sign shop owner Mladen Mirkovic. Mirkovic was the winner of the Grand Prize in Roland DG’s Discover Roland/Explore Africa Contest – an all-expenses paid, luxury African sightseeing safari for two.

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Japanese figure skaters are among the best in the world, and many famous skaters hail from Nagoya in Japan. Nagoya-based Yamaichi Special Steel Co., Ltd., a high-grade steel-work company, has been working with Nagoya native and 2010 Olympic figure skater Takahiko Kozuka to develop a new set of blades used for figure skating. Roland DG’s photo impact printer was used to imprint the catchy logo on the surface of the blades, so we decided to find out more about the development process.

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Roland DG held an orientation ceremony for new employees at its headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan on April 1, the same day that the name of the new Japanese imperial era “Reiwa” to succeed the current Heisei was announced. A total of 11 new employees joined Roland DG in FY2019.

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The Honda Welcome Plaza AOYAMA located on the first floor of the Honda AOYAMA Building in Aoyama, Tokyo, recently displayed a customized Honda N-VAN minivan which gave visitors an opportunity to express their own sense of style using Roland DG’s digital tools including a UV printer.

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Miyuki Inc., better known as Miyuki Acryl, is a well-established local fabricator with a studio-gallery in Kita-Ayase in Adachi, Tokyo that machines and fabricates various items such as accessories from acrylic. Passionate about expressing the beauty of acrylic, Miyuki Acryl sells its own brand of acrylic materials and uses Roland DG’s LEF series UV printers to decorate them.

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MEGANE-YA STRIKE, a bespoke eyewear maker located in Kobe that works closely with customers to handcraft one-of-a-kind frames, uses Roland DG’s milling machines to fabricate eyewear. Following on the first part of the series, store owner Daisuke Higa explains how his individually tailored eyewear is made and outlines future plans for the shop.

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MEGANE-YA STRIKE is a bespoke eyewear maker located in Kobe that works closely with customers to handcraft one-of-a-kind frames. Through its combination of fabrication studio and full-scale bar, they provide a unique customer experience as an eyewear shop by day and a bar at night. The studio features numerous fabrication devices, including Roland DG’s MDX-40A milling machines. Every stage of the fabrication process is handled in store—from ordering to machining. Store owner Daisuke Higa, pictured above, talks in detail about his shop concept in this two-part series.

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FabCafe Tokyo in Shibuya, which was previously featured in this blog, has kicked off a new project aimed at supporting young designers.

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andMade.kitasando, a makerspace for handmade, fashion-oriented goods located in Sendagaya, Tokyo that was previously featured in this blog, reopened this fall with a fresh new look combining an event and exhibition space with a fabrication studio. We spoke with store manager Naoto Suzuki (pictured above) to provide details about previous activities and future objectives.

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