Hi, Steve! Please tell us about your job here at The LEGO Company.
There are three of us here. We don’t design the sets you buy in the stores; rather, we design large and small models out of the same bricks that come in the sets you buy…but we have (literally) millions of bricks to use in our designs.
What did you do before you came to work at the company?
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut with a major in sculpture. I was a woodcarver for 10 or 15 years prior to coming to work here.
How did you get your awesome job?
I was looking for a job with a regular paycheck and was lucky enough to see an ad in the newspaper for a LEGO Model Designer. It was one of the very few times they advertised for the job outside of the company. The position had already been filled when I applied, but I kept on coming back once a week for about a month until they called me to see if I was interested in a temporary position as a carpenter in the display department. Of course I said yes, because it got me in the door. Then I was able to show my carving portfolio to the person in charge of the model department.
At the time, most of the people who were designing models didn’t have much formal art training, and they were looking for someone who had more skill in creating realistic human and animal figures – and the rest, as they say, is history.
(The surprising little secret is that I had never played with LEGO bricks in my life before that point!)
You’ve gotten a lot of practice since then, though! So what’s your process for building a big LEGO sculpture?
First we determine what our “customer” is looking for, and what they want it to accomplish. It could be a life-sized model of a superhero for a product launch, or a replica of a children’s hospital as a good-will project, or a life-sized SUV to help promote someone else’s product. Then I usually do a lot of sketching. To me, that’s a key tool in any visual arts creative process.
After I’ve sketched an idea I like, for the actual design of the model we have virtual tools where we can design on our computers as well as designing more traditionally “by hand” for finer details. We still have not found an acceptable alternative to “getting right down there and sculpting by hand” when it comes to something like a lifelike human bust.
When my initial designing is done, I present the prototype – real or virtual – to my colleagues for their criticisms. It’s important for people to realize that this critique (somehow that sounds nicer to people than “criticism”) is absolutely positive
in nature and absolutely important in any creative process. Often, other people’s eyes will see very simple things that you somehow missed, and the end result will be a better model.
After the criticisms have been addressed and changes have been made, there is frequently a steel support structure designed and built to go inside the model. Even though the models are glued, they take a lot of abuse, and the steel adds a good safety factor to them. Then it’s just a matter of copying the design and gluing as you go. The key here is knowing how to build it strong (and clean) without making it too solid (or sloppy). Then we ship it off to wherever the public is scheduled to see it and sit back to watch the smiles.
What do you do for fun? Any hobbies?
I like pretty much anything to do with the outdoors: fishing, hiking, backpacking, etc. I also like reading a lot; mostly historical novels or (weirdly) reference books, especially for wood-related crafts. I also play guitar when no one is around to hear it.
Do you do any building outside of work?
Most of my “building” at home is with my other passion, woodcarving. I get plenty of creative time with the bricks at work, so I like to spread myself out a bit.
How about LEGO building with your family?
My wife and I do play with LEGO bricks a bit. We live in an older house which I have been re-doing over the years. There are a lot of LEGO construction scenes hidden inside our walls. And a few not-so-hidden, too!
We’d like to see that! So what makes someone a LEGO Master Builder in your eyes?
A Master Builder has to be passionate about creating great LEGO models. It’s not enough to build what’s in a kit; a true creative master takes an idea and says to themselves, “How can I create this great thing out of LEGO bricks?” – and isn’t satisfied until they’ve done it.
What was your first big project at the LEGO Model Shop?
My first major project was a lifelike sculpture of an elderly tourist fast asleep on a park bench at our LEGO Imagination Center in Downtown Disney in Florida , where people could come and sit beside him for a photo opportunity. The inside joke was that I modeled him after our company president at the time. I only did that after asking around to make sure he had a good sense of humor first!
And how about your most recent project?
I’m just finishing a life-sized model of Indiana Jones™ to celebrate our new line.
Do you have an all-time favorite LEGO project?
Two of us here spent almost four years off and on spearheading a project to create a permanent recreation of the cotton-manufacturing city of Manchester , New Hampshire as it would have appeared in the year 1900. We had a large club of adult LEGO enthusiasts provide design skills and labor, as well as hundreds of other volunteers to create the city at LEGO minifigure scale, covering a 22 x 96 foot platform at a science museum in one of the old mill buildings. It has running water in the canals, 500 or 600 feet of working LEGO train (and trolley) lines, mill machinery, etc. While there is no single model in there that I can point to as being my all-time pride and joy, the project itself is the most personally rewarding one I’ve worked on in my 11 years here.
What’s the neatest or most clever thing you ever did when building a model?
We like to put jokes in our models when we can. One of my favorite touches was heating up a small spot in a Plexiglas case for a LEGO Extreme Sports diorama and actually embedding a minifigure on a snowboard into it, right off the end of a jump where he apparently crashed into the wall of the case. It’s a small touch, but these are the kind of things that push the needle on the Fun-o-Meter up in our shop.
What’s your secret for making great LEGO models?
We have to deal with the harsh realities of budgets here, but it’s really the same for anyone creating great LEGO models. There are always limitations. The key is, at the start of any project we have to ask ourselves, “How can I create the best and coolest model I possibly can with what I have?” whether your limitation is budget, or what bricks you have, or anything else.
Any advice for becoming a LEGO Master Builder?
Two things. First, I tell people to DRAW! To me, that’s where your mind teaches your hand to express an idea. This works for creating in stone or wood or clay or LEGO bricks. It’s a skill that’s basic to any visual creation. Secondly, and most importantly, don’t ever say, “I can’t do that in LEGO bricks.” If you say that, you’re right, you can’t. But in our shop, we’ve never once said, “We can’t do that in LEGO bricks,” and so far, we haven’t
found anything we can’t create.
Do you have any tips that you can share with all the LEGO Club members reading this?
Build. Create. Build what’s on the box, and then take it apart and throw the box and instructions away and mix in your other bricks and create something new.
Thanks, Steve! So what’s your next big LEGO building project?
I don’t know! Oh wait, the phone’s ringing…
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