I know the world seems to have gone Lego mad with the release of Lego - the Movie, and I hadn't been surprised that my 7-year old nephew seems to have more boxes of the little bricks than I thought possible. However I was amazed to discover that my husband's cousin who is quite a bit older proved a huge hit with Freddie when he showed him a picture of his completed Tower Bridge (sadly the cousin isn't Becks, who also revealed his love of Lego recently).
My experience is limited to the traditional coloured bricks which were all square or rectangular. I had moved on before the shaped pieces came in that intrigued and gripped my younger sister and there were only basic people who had removable hair that you could replace with a helmet if they were a fireman!
So I had no idea about architectural bricks and I had assumed that in order to complete one of these amazing buildings you had to buy a kit, but apparently not. At least not if you are Duncan Titmarsh who traded in his job as a kitchen fitter to become the only professional lego builder in Britain to be recognised by the Danish company.
His change of career came about five years ago and he is now the director of Bright Bricks. He admits : ‘It was hard at first to make the change, and my family and close friends thought I was mad. But I’m thrilled that I made the change when I did as it’s something that I enjoy doing every day.’
My nephew would be in awe of his warehouse with its massive array of organised trays and compartments where Duncan spends up to eight hours a day in the warehouse building a variety of designs.
He said: ‘I love the variety in my work; you just don’t know what you’re going to be doing each day.' As he is commissioned to do different projects, ‘Each day is different and until people send in their photographs and designs - I don’t know what I’ll be working on. I love to see the work when it’s finished and the recognition and response I receive from people is fantastic.'
There are lots of different buildings to have a go at. Some are very reasonably priced so within everyone's price range. And there is clearly a collector's market as some, such as the Taj Mahal and Statue of Liberty are no longer available. You can still get Sydney Opera House or Grand Emporium if you're looking for something on a grand scale.
And if you're tempted to have a go at building Tower Bridge yourself, take a quick look at the kit before it's assembled. There are 4300 pieces! And read what others who have made this had to say:
Took me about four hours just to count pieces and sort them into separate "sections" ... took about 20 hours over a period of five days. ... Loved it - Great addition to my city but right now have to find a place to put it somewhere in my house.
It always amazes me that someone somewhere figured this out. Someone figured that if you put this series of legos on top of these other legos - you get room for another layer which will ultimately create a pattern that looks like a stone wall!
And can I find a tenuous link today? Well I guess the closest I can come up with is one of my own kits, albeit a knitting kit, which you can buy here .....
