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More than 30 years ago, at a humble craft fair in Pōkeno, Damian Sutton laid eyes on a wild-haired, wide-grinned Troll doll – and everything changed.
“The smile on the Trolls, you just couldn’t walk away from it,” he says.
“I think the spiky hair, the smile, as I was growing up as a kid having bad days through my childhood, it just kept you happy. Morgan was my favourite, I had a pram for it and everything.”
Sutton, now living in Katikati, is one of New Zealand’s biggest Troll doll collectors. Just a few years ago, while researching rare dolls, he uncovered some interesting New Zealand history.
For a brief period in the 1960s and ’70s, New Zealand had its own Troll manufacturing factory, based in Sulphur Point, Tauranga. It was one of only four in the world.
Since then, Sutton has been on a quest – to track down every last one of the rare, New Zealand-made Trolls to complete his collection, including the prized Yeti Trolls.
RNZ
