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The next level of wooden toys

By Rain Noe - February 8, 2008

in Object Culture

Wooden toys don't seem so appealing--until you take a look at Take-G's insanely-complicated-to-produce line of handmade characters and vehicles. Artist Takeji Nakagawa takes the Japanese craft process of Yosegi-Mokuzougan (joined wooden block construction) and cranks out some uniquely weird little robo-guys. As he says on his website:

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 [the] 'future'.

What do you relate [the] future with? Cities full of metal, glass and plastic [like] 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 advanced technology makes.

When I think of 'future', I cannot help thinking of 'past' at the same time. Trees take long time (tens and hundreds of 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.

via reuben miller

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Wooden Toys

16 years ago

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Those toys are amazing! I agree that there almost too beautiful to give to a child and look more like sculptures than toys but there great and different none the less.
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natural wooden toys

16 years ago

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These are works of art. How much are they?

I personally prefer unique natural wooden baby toys. These ones are almost too beautiful to give to young children. I might just get them for myself!

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graphic design

16 years ago

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With the internet growing daily by leaps and bounds, it is no wonder that everyone wants a professional graphic website designer on their side to create an awesome website with even greater graphic design so that they can compete with larger organizations. With all of the churches, cub scout packs, boy scout troops, school activities, day cares, home businesses, small businesses, and children's organizations out there today, the average graphic website designer should have no problem finding pro bono graphic website design work.
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qwerty

16 years ago

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its ok to make stuff out of wood, but you cannot claim that cutting down a tree is breathing new life into it.
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bock

16 years ago

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These wooden toys are in every way absolutely beautiful! I love them!
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joe

16 years ago

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this is a misleading title. . . especially for an ID website.
those aren't toys or designed objects- this is one off fine art sculpture. he has wooden toys for sale on his website, but despite some well thought out details, they are nothing like the robot and spacemen sculptures pictured in your post.
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