A Young Wooden Craftsman and Artist - Takeji Nakagawa and Take-G

Takeji Nakagawa was born in 1978, graduated from Musashino Art University. He is proficient in the handcrafting technique of ‘Yosegi-Zukuri’ and ‘Moku-Zougan’, which involves in using the unique colours and grain patterns of different types of wood to combine and create wooden products from his creativity.

Takeji Nakagawa and TAKE-G

In 2012, Takeji established TAKE-G that focus on designing, manufacturing and selling the wooden toys (mainly robots) and furniture. The missions of TAKE-G are to persistently being innovative for wooden product creation, to maximize the characteristics of woods and to integrate the aesthetic beauty of wood into daily life.

How Takeji's Art Piece is born?

Beech wood, walnut wood, sycamore wood and teak wood are four types of wood that Takeji loves to work with. He utilizes the specific colours and textures of the woods, by arranging and compressing the wood according to his planned sequence; then trimming and carving the outline of the products, followed by polishing with sandpapers and buffing; lastly applying oil to the wood. This is how an art piece is born.

Bridging the Past and Future

Takeji often links his wood-crafted robots to the ‘future’. He foresees a future not dominated by metals, glass and plastic that usually illustrated in science fiction but the one rich with trees and natural elements that is irreplaceable with advanced technology. He also respects trees as symbols of time that takes decades, even centuries to reach their full beauty, therefore, as a craftsman and artist, he views his art as a bridge between past and future, Takeji seeks to inspire young generations with his wooden creations to celebrate the endure value of nature.

Below are part of the process of how Takeji creates his art pieces: 

We can see that Takeji Nakagawa’s work requires a high degree of precision and technique to create a perfect piece.

As you may start wondering where can we purchase his wooden art works? Unfortunately, Takeji’s wooden art piece can only be available to purchase at his own exhibitions but not by courier service as his persistence to maintain the quality of the natural wooden art pieces.

Photo Source: Takeji Nakagawa Take-G Website