Melange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2020 | Page 80

KEVIN DOLLAND’S
interest in toys began,
understandably, as a child, but
his love for toys exceeded those
of other children his age. His
parents recognized this and
indulged him, resulting in a
huge collection of super heroes
sharing their home. They were
used to him playing for hours in
the fantasy worlds he created,
his toys taking on life-like forms
as they battled against each
other. Teenage years and young
adulthood were accompanied
by a temporary waning of
interest in toys as other things
took precedence in his life,
which included his pursuit of
a degree in telecom and upon
completion, working at his
family-owned business. But toys
leapt to the surface again after
the birth of his daughter, six
years ago.
Observing the toys his daughter
played with, he noticed that
none reflected her culture.
His family business where he
worked, the Spice Basket, was
a cultural and entertainment
centre, and as one of its
managers, he assisted in making
decisions about cultural events
held there – essentially, he was
surrounded by culture every
day at work. It became clear to
him that his daughter needed
to have toys with which she
could identify therefore, the
Tamboulay story began. Kevin
was determined to merge
his passion for toys with his
knowledge and love of culture
to create stuffed toys and action
figures of cultural significance.
On Tamboulay’s website, Kevin’s
cartoons are captivating and
expertly drawn, but he hesitates
to call himself a cartoonist,
instead he likes to think of
himself as a creator. Determined
to bring toys to life for his
daughter, he first thought he
needed to hire a cartoonist, an
animator and also a writer. He
quickly realized, however that
this was going to be a costly
venture, including the fact too
that there would be copyrights
to consider. The ‘creator’
therefore made a decision. If he
was going to do this, he would
have to attempt it on his own
in the first instance – he would
learn to draw, to animate and to
write. And, this he did!