Longtime readers of The Brothers Brick will definitely be familiar with the builds of Jordan Jivkov, better known as Dan Ko, one of the most prolific builders of recent years, who specializes in small models that are packed with personality and wit. He honed his skills as an Iron Builder and continues to show up in LEGO challenges like Brickscalibur and the Rogue Olympics. It’s no surprise he’s been featured here dozens of times since 2020. In addition to sharing his models, Dan has also been generous with sharing ad-hoc instructions for his most popular builds. This month Dan is starting a new venture: a website where Dan can release free digital instructions every week for delightful builds that can be made from a modest collection of parts. We thought this would be the perfect time to catch up with Dan on his site, his journey as a builder, and the state of LEGO fandom.

Jake Forbes: Thanks for talking with us today. First of all, congratulations on your new site TinyBrick.world. Could you provide our readers a brief overview of what your site is all about?

Dan Ko: Hi Jake, and thank you for having me!

So Tiny Brick World, this is going to be my place to share some of my build ideas. My creations are mostly small and I think people would enjoy some bite-sized builds that can be put together in a few minutes. I try to make them easy to display, like all the small stuff I have on my desk all the time, and each week, a new tiny thing appears. The same will be on the website, so in a way it’s my desk, full of tiny builds.

JF: What motivated you to create your own site for instructions rather than sticking to Rebrickable or other platforms?

DK: I have posted instructions in Rebrickable, Flickr, and Instagram, but I wanted to have a super simple place where people can just see the instructions and be able to download the parts list if they feel like it. That’s it, simple, straight to the point without any clutter. Not that I don’t like the other alternatives, but feels nice to have something my own.

JF: Since your debut, you’ve been sharing instructions and parts breakdowns as photos, but for your new site, you use BrickLink Studio. What drove you to move to digital?

DK: Yes, so far most of the instructions were just photos, because it felt too complicated to build also digitally. I never liked it that much and I prefer to touch the bricks and play with them in real life. I’ve tried Studio and have it installed on my computer, but almost never opened it.

This changed when I started sharing instructions also on BrickNerd. I wanted them to be more professional, and I started playing more in Studio. There are limitations there to what we can do with the brick of course, but the final product looks better than just photos.

JF: Based on the variety of parts in your MOCs, you must have a pretty big collection of parts, but most of your builds stay quite small. What do you like about tiny builds?

DK: Actually, my collection is not big at all! I have a little over 160 sets, not including collectible minifigs. This year, I’ve acquired only 3 new sets so far, and the biggest one was provided by LEGO to BrickNerd. And the other 2 combined are below 100 parts. I also don’t make Bricklink orders often, I can’t even remember the last time I ordered something, it’s been at least a year.

But to your question, I like the tiny builds most, because you can make them fast, keep the energy and the hype of building and produce something nice. I’ve tried building big things and I honestly got lost somewhere in the process. It feels too much, a lot of pressure and huge amount of parts, that most of the times I don’t have to finish the project. So I keep everything small and sometimes tiny.

JF: For many LEGO fans who start as collectors, creating MOCs can be a big leap and quite intimidating, especially if you’ve been collecting sets with thousands of pieces. Your models tend to use only a few dozen parts. Do you see your builds as a good entry point for the MOC-curious?

DK: Definitely a huge collection can feel overwhelming in terms of creating own MOCs. I still can’t make myself disassemble the Ninjago City Gardens set, which is one of my favorites, and make all kinds of fun things with the parts. The way I see it, MOCing is like everything else – you need to do it few times, to learn and get better. We all have started small, learning one letter, then another and now we can write and read. Same with creating MOCs. Start small, take your time and it will come to you.

JF: Let’s talk about your own entry into the hobby. Your Flickr account goes back to 2020, which is when you were first blogged here. Were you an active builder before your online debut? What was your first set?

DK: I came out of my Dark Ages back in 2015 and started very slowly to buy LEGO sets. My first one then, was LEGO Star Wars 75083 AT-DP, I’ve always been a huge Star Wars fan. If we are talking my very first set, then this was 10037 Breezeway Café.

Then, a few years later, I started following the online community and what people were building. I made my first Flickr account, but there was an issue with the email I was using back then and I had to create a new one. But the account is still there and from what I can see my first public MOC was in 2017:

JF: You have a real gift for finding personality in a small number of parts with your brick-built characters, like caricature in bricks. What is your process for manifesting that personality in your MOCs? Do you have sketches or a mental image that you work towards, or is it more improvisational as you add pieces?

DK: I never sketch. Most of the time, I see a part and know immediately what I want to do with it. If I want to build something in particular, then I just play with different pieces to find the ones that fit best. Often a tiny build can be reworked for a whole week until I’m pleased with it, and the last iteration is always the simplest. I mostly fail if I try to overcomplicate things.

And for the characters, I like the cartoonish style a lot, I’m heavily influenced by artists like Derek Laufman and Skottie Young. It’s so much fun to do something goofy and cute at the same time.

JF: What role does Studio play in your building these days? Do you ever start from digital MOCs or do you prefer to build with physical bricks first?

DK: Even now I always start with real bricks. It feels more natural and it’s good to be able to not sit in front of a computer. For the instructions of course, I need to build it digitally first and sometimes there are issues. Per example with the tiny Hollow Knight that I built, inspired by Jayfa’s amazing creatures, I couldn’t find the Dreamling body in studio. It turned out that someone made the part and post it on the LDraw forum, from where I imported it to Studio using the Part Designer tool. Definitely Studio will be a tool that I’m going to use a lot from now on.

JF: You competed three times in the Iron Builder competition. What did you learn from this experience?

DK: Honestly, Iron Builder is a magical thing, and I miss it. You have 2 weeks to come up with ideas and it might be exhausting at times, but every new build brings so much joy. And trying to interact with your opponent and his builds is even better. My advice to anyone invited to participate will always be – go for it, you can only gain so much!

I definitely developed my skills more from those 3 rounds and honestly I thought that I was going to be there only for 1 :)

JF:You’ve been active in the AFOL scene for just over 5 years. Even in this relatively short time, the hobby has changed a lot. On one side there’s been a huge spike in builders focused on the LEGO Ideas platform and Bricklink Design Program looking to promote their projects, on the other you have a growing adult market of collectors whose interest in MOCs is focused on what they can buy. Creativity from MOC builders is higher than ever, even as Iron Builders and BioCup champions are being hired as LEGO set designers. Navigating that space between fandom, artist, and entrepreneur is more tangled than ever. How do you balance the hustle and the hobby?

DK: LEGO is always going to be a passion for me. It’s also a job in so many ways, which I would love to turn into a real one someday, as long as it brings me joy. It’s not easy all the time of course, but what is.

In the last year, we did see quite a few MOCers announcing the start of their journey as LEGO designers, and it makes me happy to see people’s dreams coming true. And knowing what those builders can do, I can only imagine what exciting new sets are going to be released for us all.

JF: You also find time to contribute as a write on BrickNerd. What is the favorite thing you’ve learned in your experience as a fan media journalist?

DK: Basically, that LEGO nerds are the best nerds. The team is amazing and always ready to help. I’m not much of a writer, but I enjoy reading what my fellow BrickNerds are cooking every day. I’ll probably stick to instructions though :D

There are so many great blogs and medias out there and I like how they work on different niches and have everything for everyone in the hobby nowadays. Awesome time to be into LEGO.

JF: Oh! Before we sign off, I believe there’s a new trend you’re looking to start this September. A building challenge that might be more accessible than the other tradition that requires a seriously huge investment in parts. Care to tell us about your challenge?

DK: Of course! Everything started with the previous 2 months – in July, we had TimeForCrab, where the main theme is obviously crabs. Then in August, we had Frogust, making frogs and hopping from pond to pond. And because I built a new ninja turtle, I came up with Shelltember. One can build anything with a shell or just be inspired by the shell theme and whatever feels close to it.

I think those activities help us all to be creative. It can be difficult to come up with ideas all the time. As much as I love building, I often experience creative block, and I need those tiny builds to spark the whole creativity thing.

JF: Thank you for your time and your continued generosity in sharing instructions with fellow builders!

DK: Thank you also for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and instructions :)