Kay Bojesen Exhibition
About the photo
Eyefish Media
Title: Handing over the baton
Tokyo, 17th November 2017 Photo: Kent W. Dahl©
Eyefish Media
ABOUT THE PHOTO
Hand over the baton
When I was two years old my parents gave me a small wooden toy. The toy was the work of the famous Danish designer, Kay Bojesen, who died in 1958.
My encounter with the toy prompted me to buy part of the remaining inventory of toys, when Kay Bojesen's son closed the family shop in Copenhagen in 1992.
Over the years I have presented some of my Kay Bojesen toys to friends around the world. They tend to be taken over by their children, and I presume their children will be eager to inherit them too.
Apart from looking good, the toys bring back memories. They are often backbone of stories with which you can entertain your family and friends.
There is an old coffee shop in Kitasenu in Tokyo called “Shanty Café”. It dates back from the 1970s, and I have been frequenting the café with my wife for over 36 years. When the owners renovated their café some years ago, we gave them a Kay Bojesen monkey.
It used to hang on the wall in the café, but suddenly it was gone.
The daughter of the owners, Aiko Akiyama, opened her own café and coffee roastery in an old house just next to her parents' Shanty café in 2018.
The monkey has apparently decided to follow her.
I took the photo of Aiko and her monkey in the old house before it became her “Coffee Beans SHANTZ” café.
Tokyo, November 2017
Journalist, photographer
& filmmaker
Kent W. Dahl
PERMANENT SALES EXHIBITION
A permanent exhibition of Kent Dahl's collection of vintage Danish Kay Bojesen toys are for sale at Hokuonotakumi art & craft shop in Tokyo.
VENUE:
The meaning of
"Hand over the baton"
To bestow a particular duty or responsibility on someone, as when a relay runner passes the baton to a team mate - or in this case, parents pass a Kay Bojesen monkey to their daughter.
It is an idiom. A group of words established by usage having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual word.
Aiko Akiyama making coffee in her "Coffee Beans SHANTZ" cafe in Kitasenju.
Kay Bojesen's monkey has migrated to "Coffee Beans SHANTZ" cafe from Shanty Cafe next door.
Shanty Cafe in Kitasenju. The former home of Kay Bojesen's monkey.
The coffee master at work in Shanty Cafe
Various coffee beans in Shanty Cafe
