Volks

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Volks, Inc. (ボークス) is a Japan-based corporation that produces garage kits and mecha kits as well as the Dollfie, Super Dollfie and Dollfie Dream lines of dolls. The company's headquarters is in Kyoto, with some 30 shops worldwide, and annual sales of about $50 million, as of 2008.

Contents

History

Volks began as a small hobby shop in 1972. In the late 1990s they produced the first 1/6-scale customizable Dollfie dolls. In 1998, Mr. Shigeta gave his wife the gift of a cast-resin, ball-jointed doll sculpted by Akihiro Enku. (This doll is now on display at Tenshi-no-Sato, Kyoto.) The first Super Dollfie dolls were released for sale on February 28, 1999. In November 2005, Volks USA opened their first American Tenshi-no-Sumika store in Los Angeles, California.

Corporate structure and products

Volks is organized into three different enterprises. Volks Inc. is the main umbrella company. They operate the Tenshi-no-Sato museum in Kyoto, the Volks Showrooms in Japan, and the Tenshi-no-Sumika shops in Japan, Korea, and the United States. Zoukei-Mura is Volks' sculpting, designing, and assembly department for Super Dollfie. Virginal Art is Volks' marketing and design department with a focus on the hobby market.

Hideyuki Shigeta is the president of Volks Inc. Several sculptors are working under Zoukei-Mura, most notably Akihiro Enku, the creator of Super Dollfie. Artist Gentaro Araki briefly worked with Volks, creating the U-noss line of dolls. There are also several designers working with the Super Dollfie line of dolls. The main designer, MIKEY, is the daughter of Volks' president Shigeta. Some other notable designers are K. Mayura, Valico, Aone, and Ciera.

Volks regularly publish the magazine Volks News with information about new products from all of their lines.

Volks have been known to create Super Dollfie dolls based on characters from anime and manga such as Chobits, Maria-sama ga Miteru, and Rozen Maiden. Volks have also collaborated with such Gothic Lolita brands as Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, H. Naoto, Black Peace Now and Atelier-Pierrot to create Super Dollfie outfits.

Volks sculptors

Volks artists

Doll lines

Resin lines

Resin line sculpted in collaboration with Gentaro Araki:

Vinyl lines by Volks:

Storyarcs

Volks has released several storyarcs which each include limited dolls or special editions of older sculpts. Volks has also collaborated with some manga/anime phenomenons such as Chobits (Chii doll) and Rozen Maiden.

See also

Links

Links on DoA

Offsite Links

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