WHY I COLLECT Collecting
I’ve always had an interest in studio ceramics, but I hadn’t come across anything like Troika until I visited a preview at an auction house in Cornwall in 2004. The unique shapes and textured designs in blues and browns drew me in. I intended to buy as much as I could, but I never got to the auction because I was suddenly called back home. However, I was hooked.
When Troika started in 1963, near enough all pottery at that time was utilitarian. But Troika’s three founders, potter Benny Sirota, sculptor Leslie Illsley, and Jan Thompson, a silent partner, wanted it to be an art