Legos are toys, but they inspire incredible creations. LEGO artists use tiny plastic bricks to build everything from robots to buildings. Even the company’s engineers design new components that let builders to build more intricate models. Erik Varszegi is a Master Builder at the Lego Group, Billund, Denmark. He designed an entirely new feature for this year, the curved slope. It allows Lego users to design more slanted shapes while staying within the company’s strict colour palette. The slopes can also be used to create a more dynamic shape like a curving staircase.
While certain Lego designs are the work of professional designers, others are the result of the Check Out wildly popular Lego Ideas set-design program. The Ideas line gives anyone the chance to create a set, and then get it made, offering fame and a percentage of sales to any designer who is able to convince 10,000 fellow designers that their design is worthy of being go into production. It’s not surprising that the most extravagant and impressive sets tend to get the most attention, especially when they have iconic characters or scenes from films or television shows, or in real life.
Two space icons are among the top Lego models including the NASA shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Telescope model. Each comes with display plaques and a small Lego replica of the scientist who designed the telescope. Other impressive models include a frame Rainbow as well as a Steampunk Dragon and a replica of the Westminster Palace.