Tag Archives: Interviews

The people behind the fascinating LEGO models we feature here are just as interesting! Read interviews with notable LEGO builders, LEGO book authors, LEGO set designers, and many others right here on The Brothers Brick.

Gayle Spiller’s enchanting LEGO box dioramas [Interview]

Gayle Spiller turns whimsical ideas into inspiring LEGO models packed with detail. Her builds, like the Butterfly Collector, are so dense with imaginative use of parts, you can get lost in them. In 2023, Gayle joined the exclusive group of builders to be featured at the LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery. In recent months, Gayle has been playing with a new, cozier build format – one that, like minifig habitats, could inspire builders looking to make their own MOCs from their favorite pieces who might be intimidated by larger constructions. We checked in with Gayle to talk about her latest series and life with LEGO since her invitation to Billund.

TBB: First of all, congratulations on being chosen as one of the latest builders invited to display your creations at the Masterpiece Gallery at LEGO House. What was it like to learn that your works would be displayed in Billund? What was it like meeting the other amazing builders and the LEGO team? Has anything changed in your relationship with LEGO building since your works were spotlighted?

Gayle: Thank you. Being asked to exhibit at the Lego Masterpiece Gallery 2023/24 was a complete surprise and I definitely had imposter syndrome. It was a fantastic experience and I loved meeting the other builders who I had admired online for so long. It was interesting to learn about their building methods, how for instance Zach produces some of his spectacular pieces in only 3 hours. That was a revelation and definitely inspired me to scale down and create something that would take a weekend to finish rather than some of my larger projects which have taken months.

Click to see more of Gayle’s immersive box dioramas

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Tags and trains: Capturing the gritty side of the tracks in LEGO with Sérgio Batista [Interview]

We’ve been admirers of the LEGO trains from Sérgio Batista for some time now. Builing at 1:45 scale, Sérgio recreates the trains of his native Portugal in incredible detail, earning prizes and the attention of local media. In his latest project, it wasn’t the trains themselves but the setting that caught our attention – specifically the minifig-scale graffiti on the ruined buildings, walls, and train cars along the tracks. Some might call painting on bricks in this way vandalism, but we were taken by how immersive the effect is. It’s a side of life by the train tracks that you don’t often see in LEGO or models in general. We reached out to Sérgio to learn more about his love for LEGO trains and how he came to playing with graffiti in his latest work.

TBB: First off, how did you become interested in LEGO train modeling?

Sérgio Batista: Since childhood, I have been fascinated by trains. I was born in the ’80s and grew up in the ’90s, often riding suburban trains with my parents. As for LEGO, I had catalogs featuring the Metroliner, which had a design/shape similar to the Portuguese trains I used to ride (the CP 2300 series from the Sintra Line). However, it was an expensive set that my parents couldn’t afford, so it remained just a memory.

Years later, as an adult, I emerged from my dark age and bought the Metroliner on eBay around 2005/2006. That’s when I thought, what if I built Portuguese trains in LEGO? I searched online and discovered the work of builders like James Mathis and Raised on Brickshelf, and I figured I might be able to do the same. I came across BrickLink and began my journey to replicate Portuguese trains in LEGO.

Next stop, more on Sérgio’s LEGO train journey

The living history of a fictional LEGO city: building Medinat al Musawrah [Interview]

If you’ve ever been to a LEGO fan event like BrickCon or Bricking Bavaria (and if you haven’t, do look for an event in your area!) one of the highlights is seeing collaborative builds where the parts, creativity, and passion of a team comes together to make something epic. 2024 saw some incredible collaborations, like Rogue Ronin or the latest incarnation of New Hashima. One of our favorite collabs of 2024 was “Medinat al Musawrah,” a fictional city inspired by the architecture of the Middle East and North Africa that is both modern and ancient. When we learned that the display would be returning in 2025 at BrickFair NoVa with new additions from Blake Foster and others, we reached out to the organizers to discuss the project’s inspiration, creation, and future.

A big thanks to Michael Willhoit, George Hawes, and Tobias Whelan for sharing their story.

TBB: First, can you talk about how the project came together? You had all just teamed up for the Old City district of New Hashima. What inspired this new collaboration?

Michael: The project was born from a few different factors. First, I wanted to move away from cubes. Having just completed New Hashima, some collaborators and friends of mine expressed interest in breaking away from using just a cube standard because of the constraints it had. It’s a tried and true technique but I wanted to devise a new system. More odd angles, pockets and alleys, density, and generally capturing the feeling of a city that’s been standing for centuries. Originally I modeled this off the iconic Kowloon Walled City, but that brings me to the next factor. We wanted to move out of the Eat Asian aesthetic sphere. I personally find a lot of inspiration in the Middle East, and I was lucky enough that I found people to share that. Looking in that area you can see similar insane density in cities like Cairo. There were initially 11 of us to test this. Everyone brought something unique to the display that I think really pushed it forward. George and Tobias shared in coordination roles, and George particularly contributed a massive modern pyramid structure to the build.

Tobias: I’ve been collaborating with George, Mike, or both of them since 2019. They’re some of my closest buddies and we can all unify a vision despite stylistic differences in building. Even with the massive scale of 2023’s New Hashima, George, Mike, and I all built for the Old City portion.

Our in-depth interview with Michael, George and Tobias continues

Nanyang heritage and Petaling Street: One builder’s journey to connect with the past through LEGO [Feature]

As a child growing up in a small town, LEGO made my world so much bigger. I could imagine life in space, the Middle Ages, or big cities because the act of building with bricks made history, science, and far-off places real. But it wasn’t until years later, thanks to communities like Brickshelf and sites like this one, that I came to understand how universal my experience was. One of my great joys in writing for this site has been the chance to learn from and be inspired by creations shared by talented builders around the world.

Builders like Vooi Loon Low, a Chinese Malaysian AFOL living in Kuala Lumpur.

A few years ago, Loon started sharing LEGO models of shops on Petaling Street, the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s historic Chinatown. Specifically, he’s been recreating the shops as they would have appeared in the 1950s. These buildings, sometimes paired with black and white photos, are the only LEGO models Loon has shared. I wanted to know more about Loon’s motivations for this very specific and long-running project. When I reached out, Loon was kind enough to share his story.

Read on to hear Loon’s story and see more of his builds of historic Petaling Street

Bringing the LEGO Endurance to life: an interview with photographer Benedek Lampert [Feature]

If you ask us, one of the prettiest sets to come out last year was LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance. But we’re not the only ones to think that! Benedek Lampert is a toy photographer with a particular affinity for LEGO. In fact, as well as conducting official photoshoots, he even appeared on the LEGO Masters TV show! But when he came across the brick-built model of Ernest Shackleton’s famous ship, his next photography project immediately became clear. And the results are stunning, fully immersing us in the Antarctic and bringing new life to this exceptional set.

But how did he go about photographing it? How did expedition snapper Frank Hurley’s famous pictures help inspire him? And how did he get involved in photography in the first place? Well, you can watch a short video below on Benedek’s setup – but we also had a chance to quiz him about this latest project! Be sure to click the link below to see more photos, behind-the-scenes, and read our interview with him!

Step this way to read our interview with Benedek!

Building with character: a conversation with NPU wizard Djokson [Interview]

LEGO elements are a fascinating creative medium where the palette of possibility is constantly evolving, but the pieces of yesteryear never go away. Duplo bricks from 45 years ago can still connect with forgotten Znaps or the latest Dreamzzz. Serbian builder Djokson is an undisputed master of bridging obscure LEGO B-Sides with new shapes and colors. Over 10 years, he has created and shared nearly 400 LEGO models, each remarkable in form, personality, and originality. Djokson has been on a hot streak this year with multiple new models a week that showcases his growth as an artist. This seems like the perfect time to sit down with Djokson and learn a bit more about the mind behind this incredible run of LEGO marvels.

Read on for the rest of our interview with Djokson and a retrospective of his amazing builds! !

LEGO Ideas 21347 Red London Telephone Box now available, plus an interview with the designers [News]

2024 is flying by – we’re already in February! A new month does mean new LEGO sets, though. And one of the headline releases for February is LEGO Ideas 21347 Red London Telephone Box, which is available starting today for LEGO Insiders. You’ll find it on the LEGO website where it retails for US $114.99 | CAN $149.99 | UK £99.99. We already talked about the set back when it first debuted. But since then, The Brothers Brick was afforded an opportunity to sit down with the team behind the set and ask some questions. We’ve got a summary below.

Details on our Q&A with the designers below!

Serving up a pint of awesomeness with an exclusive interview with model car designer Tom Daniel [Feature]

Sure we all love to build with LEGO but, chances are, you may have dipped your toes into other toys and hobbies as well. Before rediscovering LEGO, I was an avid model car builder and collector of Hot Wheels cars (and still am!). Hot-rodding legend Tom Daniel holds a special place in my heart as his outlandish show rod models and Hot Wheels casts such as the Beer Wagon, and Red Baron is still popular and sought-after toys today. You may recall that LEGO legend Andrea Lattanzio built Tom Daniel’s Paddy Wagon a couple years back. To be clear, Andrea’s Beer Wagon (pictured below) dates back a few years as well but it was never featured here at the time. Recently he sat down with Tom Daniel for an interview and if you ask me, that’s pretty thrilling!

Some highlights of note from the interview; the Beer wagon was Tom’s first design for Monogram models, then came the Red Baron and his career pretty much skyrocketed from there. Overnight Daniel dreamed up the Munster Koach for George Barris, although the credit for the design by Daniel often gets misstated. He also designed the Bat Cycle for the 1960s Batman television series. Tom Daniel also flew for the U.S. Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and worked as a Design Engineer for the APOLLO MOON Project. Of course you may read the entire interview here.

We’re rather proud of Andrea’s achievements. He was voted The Brothers Brick Builder of the Year in 2019. He’s still quite the prolific builder nowadays. We raise our glasses high in salute to him. Check out why we think Andrea Lattanzio is a pint of premium brew.

Building Big, Building Bold – An interview with Jonathan Farrell [Feature]

There are a lot of different ways to approach building mosaics in LEGO, and each artist tends to make a claim on their own style. Sometimes that means “massive brick-built images”. In that theme, a clear standout is Jonathan Farrell. We had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Jonathan and talk about his methods, his favorite builds, and just what happens to a mosaic that fills a room once you’ve photographed it!

Continue reading →

A deep dive into DeepShen’s digital designs [Feature]

We here at The Brothers Brick love creative part usage. We love mosaics. And we really love when the two come together. We had an opportunity to talk with Deepak Shenoy (Deepshen6) about the creative process behind their recent series of geometric LEGO wonders. Eye-bending and intricate, these designs really satisfy.

Continue reading →

How Aaron Newman went from being a LEGO fan to a LEGO set designer [Interview]

LEGO fans take many shapes. Some enjoy building official sets, while others dive into their imagination. Still others take great pride in hunting down every minute variation of 2×4 brick, or in capturing beautiful images of minifigures. For some, though, LEGO is a career path. Aaron Newman has been building with LEGO all his life, and has successfully navigated the dream that many fans have: not just building with LEGO, but getting paid to do it. Aaron has been on a rocket trajectory, moving from fan to full-time LEGO artist and then to a contestant on LEGO Masters Season 1. We’ve interviewed Aaron before about his work as a fan and on LEGO Masters, but now he’s moving to Denmark as the LEGO Company’s newest designer, so I caught up with Aaron once more to learn about his journey and how he approaches building.

Click to read the full interview

LEGO Masters Finale: We sit down with the winning team of Season Two [Feature]

The final episode of LEGO Masters Season 2 has aired. Three teams remained going in to the finale and they were given 24 hours to create any thing they desired. However, each model has to incorporate lights for a “day” look and a “night” look. The winning team takes home the $100,000 prize and rights to the title LEGO Master.

Today, our own Norm Harper sat down for a talk with the winning team along with our friends from Brickset, BZPower and True North Bricks.

Read on, but beware… Spoilers lie ahead!

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