Each year, we get to see some amazing LEGO building techniques on display during the part count-restricted Rogue Olympics. Mark van der Maarel keeps it well under 100 with this great magic lamp. And if you’re like me, your first wish will be figuring out how those white disks fit together to make such a great puff of smoke!
There is so much to appreciate about Mark van der Maarel‘s Edo-era Japanese diorama in LEGO, but it’s the red leaves against the newly fallen white snow that draw me in like an ukiyo-e woodblock print. The central cottage is charming and full of details of everyday life. A bundle of reeds over the window made from broom elements is a great touch. Towering over the cottage is an incredible wall made of interlocking brick-built stones (Mark gives credit to collaborator Marshall Banana for this technique). Down by the river, a woodcutter kneels as a samurai approaches on horseback. While Mark doesn’t offer a story, I imagine the woodcutter has a blade hidden in the cottage and soon leaves won’t be the only red splashes in the snow.
Mark’s build was part of the Rogue Ronin collaboration displayed at the Bricking Bavaria event in Germany where over 30 members of the Rogue Bricks community participated. We also adored felix-workshop’s award-winning contribtion.
What’s gray and white and red all over? This build by Mark van Der Maarel. The dramatic simplicity of its colors is striking enough, but the red house nevertheless also contains a variety of textures that keep it interesting: flippers mounted on walls for little architectural flourishes, Technic pins protruding from walls, and 1×2 ribbed bricks stacked atop each other, to name a few. The bright color and details of the building contrast starkly with the blank gray figure painting it. It begs the question: what happens when the creation is more vivid than its creator? Ponder on that the next time you build.
