JapanSugoi

Takeji Nakagawa is a master woodcraft toy maker with a passion and dedication to his works. His small company and workshop called Take-G toys uses a process called Yosegi-Mokuzougan, or joined wooden block construction, where combinations of different kinds of woods, with different colors and textures, are combined to express artistic patterns.

The Hakone-Odawara region in Japan is famous for this traditional handicraft but Nakagawa has expanded the normal 2 dimensional patterns by using three-dimentional patterns. He uses 4 different kinds of wood - keyaki (a Japanese Zelkova), teak, walnut, and white ash. His works are not mass produced and many are one of a kind. On his website, the
actual toys which he sells online are restricted to Take-G blocks (US$36-345) and zoo (US$81). He also has a passion for making futuristic wooden robots!