nakagawa takeji

● I am so glad that you are interested in Take-G toy’s.
Take-G toy’s is a ‘toy’ maker which mostly deals with wooden crafts hand-made by Takeji (Take-G) Nakagawa (actual toys which are sold online are restricted to Take-G blocks and zoo). My motto is to bring wooden beauty and quality into life in my own style.
I often get asked “Why do you make robots with wood?” I don’t really have an exact answer for it but I often relate my robots with ‘future’.
What do you relate future with? ? Cities full of metals, glasses and plastics in a SF movie???
What we really want is not that kind of future but one full of trees and something more natural. I don’t think humans can live without trees no matter what advances technology makes.
When I think of ‘future’, I cannot help thinking of ‘past’ at the same time. Trees take long time (tens and hundreds years) to grow and show us their beauty (the product of their past). I think that I have responsibilities as a craftsman and an artist of breathing new life into these trees. I have a job to link 100 years in the past and 100 years in the future through my work. This is my values toward my work.
I wish my work, which carries such values, can grab imaginations of children of the past, present and future.
I welcome entries(comments) in English in my blog! I am looking forward to hearing from you.
● About the products of the Take-G toy’s
Yosegi-Mokuzougan, or joined wooden block construction, is craft skills
where combinations of original and unique colors and textures of different
kinds of wood are utilized to express artistic patterns.
In Japan, the Hakone-Odawara region is famous for this traditional handicraft.
Products of the Take-g Toy’s have expanded this traditional craft skill,
which usually employs two-dimensional patterns, by using three-dimentional patterns, instead.
We use four different kinds of wood, a keyaki (a Japanese tree of the genus Zelkova),
a teak, a walnut, and a white ash. A typical production process involves:
1) careful choice of the kinds of wood according to parts of a product,
2) gluing larger parts in a vise,
3) fitting smaller parts such as eyes or numbers into corresponding holes,
4) curving assembled parts into the shape of, say, a human, and 5) applying varnish to a product.
The products of the Take-g Toy’s are produced by a unique mixture of the
traditional craft skill, or Yosegi-Mokuzougan, and modern designs
that optimizes original texture of high-quality material.
● Please read below before contacting me(replys to 3 different types of customers – individuals, companies, and gallaries including magazines):
P.S. As I do not understand English very well, I have deleted some of English-written emails (I thought they are spams). I apologise for people who did not get my replies. Please write to me, but please read below first.
■ For Individual customers:
Dear Customers
I am so glad that you are interested in my work
Unfortunately, the most of crafts shown in the web pages are one-off artworks. I only sell these crafts at exhibitions and art galleries. Therefore, I do not post these products.
I hand-craft these products piece by piece by myself taking a long time and I have been putting everything I have into my work to make wooden materials’ true quality and beauty shine through. So, if someone were to buy these crafts, I insist he/she having had a careful look at my work at first-hand and not just looking at photos. I have been insisting on this to my Japanese customers too. So I do not have a brochure of my work. In Japan, I only sell Take-G blocks and zoo online, which are for children (these are true toys but they carry some quality which I pursuit).
The prices of my crafts are subject to change so I cannot name exact prices but here are some approximates:
Small-sized crafts: US$ 50-80
Medium-sized crafts: US$ 150-800
Large-sized crafts: US$ 1200-6000
The prices of Take-g blocks and zoo are below, although I have not found a way of selling these to overseas yet.
Take-g blocks

Take-g zoo

I am so sorry as this probably comes as a disappointment. However, let me say “thank you” because I was really encouraged by your email all the way from overseas. My company is very small just run by my wife and me and I cannot possibly mass-produce any of my products (apart from Take-G blocks and zoo). Someday, I dream of having exhibitions at galleries near you.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G
■ For Company etc:
Dear Sir/Madam
Thank you for contacting me and I am glad that you are interested in my work. Most of what you have see on the web (e.g., robots and characters) is hand-crafted artworks and not for sale apart from being sold at occasional exhibitions. However, I do sell Take-g blocks and Take-g zoo as you may have seen on the web. I have yet to sell any of my work overseas mostly because Take-g toy’s is a small company run only by my wife and myself. I cannot really mass-produce any of products (maybe the blocks and zoo could be produced for a large-scale market). Sometime in future, if I decide to start selling my toys (Take-g blocks and zoo), I will definitely let you know. It would be great if you help me on that occasion.
I hand-craft all of Take-g products and I have been trying to covey the beauty of wooden products via my work. Please remember most of crafts I make are an art not actually ‘toys’ except a few products. I have been encouraged by your email as it came all the way from overseas. I really appreciate it.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G
■ For Galleries and magazines:
Dear Sir/Madam
I will welcome offers for exhibitions at galleries and coverage in magazines. Please email :
mail@take-g.com (Takeji Nakagawa)
I have some exhibitions planned in Japan so availability may be restricted. For exhibitions at galleries, please outline your conditions in details.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G