As kids of the 80s, we know all too well the feeling of needing to rewind the VHS tape at the end of the movie before returning it to the video rental store. And the gentle hum of Nan’s video camera rolling while you blew out the birthday candles or the mild embarrassment you felt watching yourself back on the screen when you lost your team the soccer match (okay maybe that was just me). 

The point is we love the nostalgia of these relics from the past, and we want to preserve them for you.

Our business started after my husband’s grandfather passed away, and while helping my mother-in-law sort and clean-up the house we found a dirty plastic bag buried in the bottom of an old wardrobe which had long been relegated to the garage. Inside was no less than 20 circular plastic hockey-puck looking things. These contained decades of priceless memories on 8mm film dating back to 1957, including his grandmother’s wedding (in colour! - Until then, we’d all only seen it black and white photos), his mum’s childhood, and many cameo appearances from many very special people in his life, including his great grandparents, one of whom passed away when he was only 6 years old. Our only regret was that we didn’t get to enjoy watching these with his grandfather before he passed, to hear the accompanying stories. But seeing these digital files was so exciting that it ignited something in us that sent us on a mission to preserve all of our family movies & photos. A lot of time, study, research & investment later and Takara Mono was born.

If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering what our business name, Takara Mono, means: It’s a Japanese word, as I’m (like most of our electronics) “Made in Japan”. Takara means ‘treasure’ and Mono means ‘thing’. Together it means ‘treasured possession’ which is exactly how we feel about these irreplaceable items. If you put your trust in us to look after your precious memories, we won’t let you down.