12/4/2009

Art u Wear

- wearable jewellery for all

Art u Wear was formed in the Aussie winter of 2001 by former Toowoomba TAFE arts graduate Robert J Sidor.

In order to start his business in Toowoomba after many years of making and selling handmade jewellery in markets and alternative venues, Robert sought help from Mission Australia and enrolled in the Cert iv of small business management.

Art u Wear was formed during that time, and it's mission was to fill a gap made by high end jewellery stores and the lack of artist jewellers in the region to service a clientele with better taste than mass produced/common jewellery.

During the time Art u Wear was in Toowoomba, we provided a store that sold local artists goods, from paintings to hand made clothes and furniture, our competition was high end stores that brought in stock from overseas from cheap labor countries..

Unfortunately the effects on the economy from 9/11 put strain on Roberts ability to keep a store open, along with personal issues and his son Bohdan being born premature at the time.

Currently Robert makes Aluminium Bullbars for TuffBullbars after making trailers and farm implements for the previous years since 2002.

Art u Wear is still committed to helping other local artists, and we will be expanding the site in 2010.

Yes i still DO my art, i have never been interested in holding exhibitions of my work and everything i make is sold or been commissioned and is out the door as soon as the paint is dry- so to speak. I am lucky if i manage to take photos to show you. You can email me if you would like something special made.

Robert Sidor. [Rock3rTo]

Toowoomba, Queensland. Aust.

My sister Leanne Sidor painted the window for me

Clothes, Art, Jewellery- everything we stocked was sourced locally

Making use of recycled material has always been Robert 's main inspiration and the cheapness of found materials coupled with the fact that most found materials have connections with the finder. I have used clients old jewellery and other [Treasures] to create collages of wearable art and sculpture that highlight the memories we all have inside of us at the sight of some long forgotten object.

In saying this, we were taught that everything has been done before, there is no new art, and what is old will become new again. In some ways this is true, but we said, we can reuse this with our own influence and make it into something that no-one has seen before.

Custom made items can take many tens of manhours to develop, and i have often been told that i sell myself cheap. Art is about giving and learning, not taking and reaping. What i do with my art is create one-off designs that are made at the right time, for the right person...