It’s every LEGO fan’s dream job, and for one lucky applicant it could become a reality in 2021! Yup, The LEGO Company are looking for a new Model Designer to join their Technic team, where – in Billund Denmark – brand new LEGO Technic sets are brought to life!
Applicants will need mechanical, product, or toy design knowledge, either through formal education or via outside experience, good English language skills, creative software ability, and – of course – “A good understanding of the LEGO® Technic™ building system”.
The full description and details on how to apply can be found on the LEGO Careers website here, good luck, and maybe we’ll see one of your models in the TLCB Review Library in years to come!
The team here at The Lego Car Blog are all big LEGO fans, so the unexpected success of this ropey little website has been – in a way – a dream come true. It’s also meant that for some builders, seeing their work appear here is their dream come true. Whilst we still find this a little weird we’re always delighted when we can make it happen. However there are a few builders who dream… bigger.
One such builder is Andrea Lattanzio aka Norton74. Andrea’s work has appeared here numerous times and he’s one of our Master MOCers too. Recently though, his achievements with bricks have gotten a lot bigger, as Andrea has become one of just fifteen Master Builders worldwide selected to have their work showcased in the new ‘Masterpiece Gallery’ at the incredible LEGO House in The LEGO Group’s home in Billund, Denmark.
Andrea has recently returned from a trip to LEGO’s spectacular new building to join us in one, er… less spectacular. Over to Andrea to tell all about his amazing achievement and how his Lego dream came true.
TLCB: Hello Andrea! You’ve just come back from The LEGO House in Billund where you’ve seen your work featured! Tell us how it happened!
Andrea Lattanzio: First of all I thank you for this chance, I am always very happy to share my passion and my story with other AFOLs and LEGO fans.
I returned a few days ago after a whole week spent between Billund (the hometown and historical HQ of The LEGO Company) and Skaerbaek, a tiny village in western Denmark where for years one of the most important, if not the most important, LEGO fan weekend is held.
The reason for this trip was unique and unrepeatable and even now I find it hard to believe that it really happened. In fact, I was chosen by The LEGO House to exhibit my works in the Masterpiece Gallery along with 14 other ‘Master Builders’ from all over the world.
TLCB: Congratulations! How did they choose you and when did you find out?
Andrea Lattanzio: In order to choose which builders to exhibit in the Masterpiece Gallery (where the builds are on display to the public for a whole year), The LEGO House team asked Lego User Groups around the world to suggest the most deserving builders. In addition, they also checked the Flickr galleries of the most famous builders and then, eventually, selected their finalists.
In my case ItLug suggested, among others, my name and so last March I was contacted by The LEGO House who proposed that they would like to exhibit my works for a year in the Masterpiece Gallery. Obviously, my answer was positive and when I read the email I did not believe it!
TLCB: How did you choose which of your creations to exhibit?
Andrea Lattanzio: The choice of the models was coordinated with The LEGO House team. It was not easy because the showcases, where the MOCs are shown, are quite small and therefore it was necessary to choose small builds. At the beginning they asked for my ESSO Gas Station but it was too big, so we opted for the Scooter Shop and the Shell Gas Station (the latter in mini-fig scale). Unfortunately both were too deep and I had to work to shrink them and bring them under 30cm. There was room for two other small MOCs so I also brought two hot rods which, in my opinion, are amongst the most beautiful I’ve built.
TLCB: How did the LEGO House team host you and how did the set-up day go?
Andrea Lattanzio: Since I set foot in the hotel in Billund until I left the ‘Home of the Brick’, I had the feeling of being ‘spoiled’ and ‘cuddled’ by The LEGO House team. Everything was perfectly organised and they knew exactly who I was and what I had built over the years. They were all very kind and they gave myself and the other ‘Master Builders’ very special treatment with some beautiful gifts.
The set-up day was exciting and I think I will never forget it. We spent all day in the facility and we had lunch and dinner together. Each ‘Master Builder’ dedicated themselves to set up their own part of the display, adding value to the exhibition as best as they could. We also received a guided tour and there was a presentation by Stuart Harris, a senior designer at LEGO. In short, it was one of those days that I will remember forever! Continue reading →
60 years ago today the founder of The LEGO Company Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for a little interlocking brick formed of studs and tubes.
A few months later patent approval was granted, and The LEGO Company became the owner of what would become probably the most valuable toy patent in history.
Six decades on and LEGO have become the largest toy maker on the planet, and even though Godtfred’s original patent has expired – allowing countless imitators to emerge – The LEGO Company continues to build its success upon a little plastic brick designed 60 years ago.
The LEGO Group has recently announced plans to build a 250,000 visitor per annum ‘LEGO House’ exhibition centre in the heart of its hometown of Billund in Denmark. Over to the official press release:
When the LEGO House opens in 2016 visitors to the house in Billund, Denmark will enter a building that resembles gigantic LEGO bricks combined and stacked in a creative way to create an imaginative experience both outside and inside. In the experience center guests can expect hours full of active fun while at the same time engaging in an educational and inspirational experience – everything that LEGO play offers.
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, LEGO owner, explains: “The LEGO House will show the past, present and future of the LEGO idea and I am certain it will be a fantastic place, where LEGO fans of all ages and their families and friends will get a wide range of unique LEGO experiences. It is our belief that LEGO play fosters innovative thinking, and the LEGO House gives us an opportunity to make it very tangible what LEGO play offers and how it stimulates children’s creativity and learning.”
The LEGO House will be approximately 30 meters tall, and there will be public access to several roof-top gardens from the outside. The building will offer visitors a total of 7,600 square meters of exhibition areas, a café, a unique LEGO store and a large public square.
Construction of The LEGO House is due to start early next year. You can read the full press release at LEGO’s official news-room, and watch LEGO’s video showing the proposed building design below:
Ten finalists have been chosen from fan creations uploaded to Lego.com. Vote for your favourite!
It’s the Grand Final of LEGO’s ‘You Design It, We Make It’ competition! Fans have been uploading their versions of the 9398 4X4 Crawler for the past few weeks, and we’re now down to the final 10! The winning creation will be turned into a new official LEGO Technic set. Make your vote count:
Every so often we chuck one of The Lego Car Blog Elves over The LEGO Group’s perimeter wall in an effort to bring you inside stories. We’ve lost a few Elves to the guard dogs this way, but as they’re pretty cheap we think it’s worth it.
Anyhow, this week one of the Elves made it back out with some official LEGO Group news and only minor bite marks. Props to him. And the news is pretty exciting…
The LEGO Group are in a position that most other businesses would kill for; they are prolific in social media. Unofficial Lego-sharing websites and blogs have been running since before even YouTube, and contribute very much to the success of the company. It’s also fair to say LEGO, like all other large corporations, have been glacially slow in responding to the new way in which consumers communicate. Worse than that even, they’ve often tried to shut down social media outlets that refer to the brand name or imagery. Fine in 2002, not in 2012.
But the above stance is changing, and changing fast. The LEGO Group have not only finally recognised the role social media sites play in the success of their brand, they are actively endorsing them (The Lego Car Blog included!). As such they have created their own official social media site called ‘ReBrick‘, which links to the unofficial sites that many of you visit every week.
This is a landmark moment for LEGO, and social media more generally. ReBrick is only in ‘Beta’ mode currently, but we believe it’s the beginning of a whole new era in the relationship between The LEGO Group and their consumers.
We’d like to congratulate LEGO on their pioneering project, and we’d like to encourage you to join ReBrick and get posting (preferably articles from The Lego Car Blog!). You’ll also find us in the ‘Culture’ section of their ‘Brick Links’ page, which we’re rather pleased about!
