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Bring your child to Vivistop Honolulu and see if it sparks a passion for something creative and unique.
The 3,000-square-foot installation in Kakaako is loaded with equipment and facilities geared toward creativity — a dance space, a kitchen, an arts and crafts studio, a photo studio, a wood shop, a music center.
It’s a place where, organizers say, a child can pursue a project unhindered by anything except the limits of their imagination. And while there are adults around to provide supervision and guidance, children and their ideas come first.
“No curriculum, no teachers,” said Keiko Hirano, a co-founder of Vivistop. “We cannot say ‘no’ to a kid or a kid’s idea. We value kids’ ideas.”
Vivistop is still in the launch phase — it’s currently seeking members ages 10 to 17 — and in the meantime, it’s been holding workshops to give the community an idea of its offerings. At a recent open house, for example, youngsters served up concoctions they had devised in its kitchen, while a break-dancing team performed as another teen DJ’d. Another youth worked on a mural.
One of the more unusual projects was developed by a group of youngsters who are into “finger-boarding” — a super-miniaturized version of skateboarding in which kids use their fingers to push tiny skateboards around shoe-box sized skate parks. Ade Ogunniyi, Vivistop’s technology mentor, worked with the children to “prototype their dream idea of a skateboard ramp,” then taught them to use the wood shop’s Computer Assisted Design (CAD) technology and laser-cutting machine to create a sturdy structure made of wood.
“They could use cardboard, but then it would break,” she said, adding that one of the youngsters hopes to create an entire line of miniature skate parks and finger-boarding accessories.
Vivistop is the brainchild of Taizo Son, a Japanese entrepreneur who made a fortune in the video gaming industry. In 2013, he founded an innovation-oriented company named Mistletoe, which now includes a branch named Vivita. In the last four years, Vivita has established children’s creative centers in Japan, the Philippines, Lithuania, Estonia and Singapore. Each center, which focuses on innovation and creativity, is designed to suit the interests of its local founders — Singapore’s center, for example, has a section devoted to technology because one of its founders is an engineer.
Honolulu is Vivita’s first facility in the U.S. and is the only one with a music studio. It is equipped with computers to mix and blend soundtracks as well as professional quality guitars, a drum kit, keyboard and a recording booth. Izumo Miyazawa, a freshman at Kalani High School, manages the facility and can teach youngsters how to use the equipment.
“They can do whatever they want, and if they have any questions about what they want to do, I can help them,” he said.
Hirano, a Japanese native, came to Hawaii eight years ago to find and develop young musical talent for Sony. Her husband, Tomoyasu Hirano, is a co-founder of Vivita. After finding herself “struggling” to find people with “good motivation and passion,” she thought a Vivistop center would be a good way to discover and nurture creativity here.
“I thought it would be a perfect idea, because Vivita can support everything, and it’s all for free,” she said.
That’s right, it’s all provided at no cost. Vivistop reflects the concept of a space free from obstacles to creativity, such as cost or the demands of academia, Hirano said. Children must be accepted into the program, but otherwise Mistletoe, through Vivita, is providing the facilities and mentors. She said Vivita was established partly in response to the restrictive environment of traditional Japanese education.
For that reason, Vivistop organizers seek children who are truly motivated and passionate about their projects. “Because we’re free, we’re afraid that we might become a free daycare,” said Seiya Yoshida, a Kalani High graduate who is a co-founder of Vivistop Honolulu. “We want kids who are actually motivated to create in the space and use our resources.”
Vivistop should be seen as a space “where kids can be autonomous and be able to really create what they believe and what they dream,” he said. “Our main philosophy is to innovate kids’ creativity and bring them to the center of change in society.”
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VIVISTOP HONOLULU
A free creative lab Lab … looking for curious and passionate kids who want to explore their creativity
>> Where: 1025 Waimanu St. #103
>> On the net: vivita.us
>> Email: aloha@vivita.us
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