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.

History

Volks began as a small hobby shop in 1972. In the late 1990s they produced the first Dollfie dolls, and in 1999 the first Super Dollfie doll was created by Akihiro Enku. 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.Japattack - Figure+Doll=U-noa (Unoa Doll)
https://web.archive.org/web/20080527055417/http://www.japattack.com/main/node/140 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 created resin kit figures of characters from a large variety of anime and manga, for example ''My-HiME'', ''Love Hina'', ''Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, Neon Genesis Evangelion'' and ''Oh My Goddess!'' They also have their own line of figures called A-Brand. They have also created Super Dollfie dolls based on characters from anime and manga such as ''Chobits'', ''Maria-sama ga Miteru''#Cat1, Super Dollfie Catalog 1 and ''Rozen Maiden''. Volks have also collaborated with Lolita (term), Lolita brands like Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, H. Naoto, Black Peace Now and Atelier-Pierrot to create Super Dollfie outfits.#Cat3, Super Dollfie Catalog 3Nana x Black Peace Now
Angelden.net (2002-05-05). Retrieved on 2012-01-04.

Notes and references

* * * {{cite book , year = 2007 , title = {{nihongo, ''Super Dollfie Catalog 3'', スーパードルフィーパーフェクトカタログ 3 , publisher = Asahi Sonorama , location = Japan , isbn = 4-257-03739-3 , ref=Cat3

* :ja:ボークス, Japanese Volks Wiki Article
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External links

Volks Japan
official site
Volks USA
official site Manufacturing companies based in Kyoto Toy companies of Japan Doll manufacturing companies