Tokyo: 2008/10/07 06:01
Maywa Denki
Maywa Denki
Photo © Albane Laure

“Seamoons” robot singers with paper lungs, "Ultra-folk" automatic guitars and "Koi-beat" mechanical rhythm box¸ the creative genius of Maywa Denki outs its efforts into paradoxes: passionate goldworking / off-the-wall public presentations; innovative artistic pretentions/assumed marketing strategy. Like Bruno Munari, Nobumichi Tosa breathes life into his resin and aluminium robots, irresistible and capricious machines, whose vain mechanical beauty are much vaunted by Tosa.

Founded by Sakaichi Tosa in 1969, Maywa Denki is the name of a real small business that went under in the petrol crisis of 1979. 14 years later, Tosa’s reject seized the initiative and revived Maywa Denki in the form of an artistic project, in which they included company images: a hierarchical structure and the blue uniforms of Japanese electricians. In 2001, the executive Nobumichi Tosa became president of the company and sang the implacable: “Striving to conquer, taking to conquer”.

Text © 2007 Sonore

Maywa Denki links
You Tube
www.youtube.com/­watch?v=J25-tEWykck

There are currently 10 Maywa Denki releases available.
Displaying all items.

Item picture Maywa Denki
Edelweiss Program
(YOSHIMOTO KOGYO, MWD-0002, Book 2004)
novel / art
Price: € 28.00Add to shopping cart

A short tale written and illustrated by Maywa Denki CEO Tosa Nobumichi, like a twisted Holy Bible explaining the birth of the firm's Edelweiss series machines. Men and women hate each other and build two new societies: on the Moon, men live in a glass city, feed on their dead and masturbate in craters; on Earth women prefer beautiful but infertility-inducing plastic goods over the ugliness of an organic world, and kill all the males except "prostitutes, hairdressers and masseurs". Fans of Tosa's usually cheerful and perfection-obsessed works will certainly be surprised by the darkness and rawness of the story, but actually this book remains very coherent to Maywa Denki's concepts; Complementary to the exhibition held at the NTT InterCommunication Center in 2004, it humorously questions the difference between blind consumerism and religion. Japanese/English bilingual edition.
Item picture Maywa Denki
Naki 26 Nonsense Machines
(SONY MUSIC, MWD-6924, DVD 1998)
art
Price: € 32.00Add to shopping cart

Item picture Maywa Denki
Cha Cha (White)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-6414, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 14.00Add to shopping cart

A toy from Maywa Denki's Knockman Family. Wind the spring on his head, release and watch his little heart and tail dance to the sound of his cymbal body stretching and crashing itself.
Item picture Maywa Denki
Knockman (White)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-0018, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 14.00Add to shopping cart

A toy from Maywa Denki's Knockman Family. Move the left hand to wind up the spring, release it, and watch this little guy's heart spin as he cheerfully knocks on his head with a sweet "pong". Twist his arm and he'll beat on any fellow Knockman nearby!
Item picture Maywa Denki
NA Cord (Black)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-9911, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 12.00Add to shopping cart

Fishbone-shaped strap for mobile phones. You can link its tail to its head or to another NA Cord. About 25cm long.
Item picture Maywa Denki
NA Cord (Pink)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-9119, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 12.00Add to shopping cart

Fishbone-shaped strap for mobile phones. You can link its tail to its head or to another NA Cord. About 25cm long.
Item picture Maywa Denki
NA Cord (Red)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-9317, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 12.00Add to shopping cart

Fishbone-shaped strap for mobile phones. You can link its tail to its head or to another NA Cord. About 25cm long.
Item picture Maywa Denki
NA Cord (White)
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-9812, Toy )
toy / art
Price: € 12.00Add to shopping cart

Fishbone-shaped strap for mobile phones. You can link its tail to its head or to another NA Cord. About 25cm long.
Item picture Maywa Denki
The Nonsense Machines
(NTT SHUPPAN, MWD-0254, Book 2004)
art
BACKORDER
Catalogue of the exhibition held at NTT's InterCommunication Center (ICC) in 2004. Displays every Maywa Denki item created at that time, details the man and machine line-up for every show performed since 1993, and explains the distinct concepts behind the 3 Nonsense Machine series (Tsukuba, Naki and Edelweiss) as well as the very aesthetic ruling the firm and its management strategy. An indispensable companion for robot fans and contemporary art lovers alike. 176 pages. Japanese/English bilingual edition.
Item picture Maywa Denki
Bitman
(CUBE WORKS, MWD-6318, Toy )
toy / art
BACKORDER
Shake Bitman to make him dance around the screen. Tilt it to select letters and display your own messages. Also works as a (big) alarm clock (wristband sold separately).
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