Trust me when I tell you, we are already impressed by Takamichi Irie’s LEGO work. But when a builder of his caliber breaks the rules a little (or a lot) we take special notice. 2021 is the Year of the Ox so we were happy to see this rather charming and (ahem) unorthodox creation grace the interwebs. Takamichi tells us it takes inspiration from his grandfather, who was an artist and graphic designer who had unfortunately passed away last September. The horns, tail, and hooves are LEGO pieces but the body is constructed from cut and folded card stock. Some gluing most certainly helped the process along. The end product is reminiscent of the official LEGO Forma sets so perhaps this isn’t as unorthodox as initially thought.

Whether this irks your purist leanings or inspires you to break the LEGO mold a bit, you’ve got to admit this is pretty neat. Check out more of his work in our archives.