Artist: TROYART (Roberto Stelzer and Nelson Schiesari)
Date Purchased: Early 2005ish
Price purchased: $80-$100

Story:  My Dad generally thinks my collection of toys and sneakers are absolute shit.  He finds most of my stuff is not artistic, is made poorly and of cheap materials.  He often fires a modified quote from the baseball movie “Field of Dreams” when describing my collection: “If you make it, the idiots will buy.”  Despite this, he’s generally supportive of my collections and sometimes (very rarely) approves of some of my acquisitions.  Sometimes he even contributes.  This was a Christmas gift from my parents.  They found it at an upscaleToronto Department store (Holts) and thought it was pretty unique and interesting.  It’s a coloured acrylic 3D puzzle of a robot (made in Brazil).  The pieces fit together with no glue and come in a beautifully designed acrylic holder that each piece locks into.  I didn’t fully appreciate this piece at the time, but looking at it now, with all it’s colours and simplicity, it’s really a nice piece.

Here’s a little about the designers, TROYART: 

“The TROYART was created by Roberto Stelzer and Nelson Schiesari with the goal of developing characters to assemble and collect.  The name is a reference to the wave of Toyart, and also the legend of the Trojan Horse – a large wooden horse where the Greeks hid soldiers who stormed the city of Troy From this mythological reference, there were kits from where robots and aliens, 8 inches to 2 feet tall.  Marscote, 3P.AT, Raced 33, Pinon, Truck and Flag were the pioneers. Like the character Troy, a dog that became the trademark symbol.