The LEGO group began in the workshop of ole kirk christiansen (born 7 april 1891), a carpenter from billund, denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called “LEGO”, from the danish phrase leg godt, which means ‘play well’. LEGO began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949.
Ever since childhood, i’ve loved LEGO and even today i will gladly walk into a lego shop and get inspired by all the creativity and genius this company produces. A trip to legoland is still a highlight and i’m not sure i will ever grow out of it!
Do you know what AFOL is? No? Apparently it stands for ‘adult fans of LEGO’. Go figure! Yes, there is a big following and one of those fans, warren elsmore, just brought out a book, entitled: brick city: LEGO for Grown Ups.
Warren has built some of the world’s most iconic landmarks out of LEGO bricks and now you can see his st pancras station masterpiece up close at waterstone’s in piccadilly until June 4.
You can imagine my excitement. I rushed down to bring you some close-ups first hand and i hope you enjoy the little tour. I was told by a member of staff that warren came in with a female colleague and spent the best part of 7 hours building the entire station from memory. No drawings, no measurements. Incredible!
If you’re wondering about the next picture here, this is something for the little people. Basically there are some famous movie characters hidden amongst the st pancras model. They want children to find them. Here is one of them!
A small selection of what you’ll find inside the book. Anyone fancy their luck at building these?
For the geeks amongst us! Some facts and stats about this LEGO edition of st pancras station. It is 140cm high, 350cm long and 150cm wide. The scale is approximately 1:100 and it’s built out of 180,000 bricks.
So, if you find yourself near piccadilly, do pop in and see this masterpiece for yourselves. Have a great weekend and i see you monday.
18 Comments
Awesome! Both my husband and I are true Lego lovers a.k.a. AFOLs indeed… Unfortunately I don’t have enough bricks to finish the scale model of our home: for now I only have 1 façade 😀
Haha. Found some AFOL’s… perfect! What? You’re builing a scale model of your home. Woman, write to Lego and get them to sponsor you.. c’mon, get inventive!!! I want a big blog post on it:-))
See you next weekend x
OMG, I cannot believe that this masterpiece was done entirely from memory! Wow – truly incredible.
The Hubster and I both have very fond memories of our Lego sets and it was certainly the one toy I had that really excited me and sparked my imagination.
I must say that when it comes to L, much as I still ADORE Lego, it does break my “no plastic” rule regarding toys so – horror of horrors! – she doesn’t have any. I’m hoping that they’ll someday consider making a wooden and/or silicone version. 😀
Thanks for sharing this – I’ll definitely check it out when next I’m in the area. 🙂 x
Incredible, right???
Gosh, I agree with the ‘no plastic’ rule BUT is there something that inventive in wood?? Lego is unique and so creative.
Silicone would be a good substitute but probably not affordable!
xx
Well that’s something else I now know about you. I’d no idea you were a LEGO fan. I know the company is Danish, but nothing else about it. The St Pancras model is impressive and to be built from memory… absolutely amazing!
I can appreciate the learning and playtime merits of LEGO, but its never excited me in the least. You used the word geek, so can I say that LEGO is a bit geeky? It’s kind of like model railway enthusiasts for example… just a bit dull. I can hear you scream now 😉
But thank you for sharing and enjoy the book! x
Dull! Consider yourself sent to Coventry for a while, Gerard, I need to come to terms with your comment…
You are hilarious, especially since you got over it so quickly. Can’t believe you granted him a card out of jail so soon:-) LOL
You know that ‘dull’ cost you… but then from time to time this happens with you, right? You say something that is so unusal that we pounce on you LOL
I think maybe you getting some Lego would unleash something in you and free up that part that is, well, firmly anal and rigid:-)) Think could be great therapy for you..xxx
You know I was reading your post when little J spotted the yellow truck and started screaming with joy. He really enjoyed your photos. Now that’s out of the way, from an adults perspective, big J is a really big fan of Lego also. In fact, my wedding present for him was a 3300 piece Lego Star Destroyer which combined his 2 loves, sci fi and lego 🙂 xD
Hahaha. Bet little J doesn’t think Lego is ‘dull’!! Great story and happy I made a little person smile:-)
I LOVE that you’re both Lego fans. You should get together with more adult Lego fans and throw a Lego party. I’ll be there:-)
WOW! A 3300 piece Lego Star Destroyer.. what an inventive wedding present. J xx
I’m with you all the way, Tina. Don’t know who loves it more, my children or myself. It remains the most played with toy in our house. We have loads, some of it pretty old. We shall be making a trip to Waterstones. Thank you, I didn’t know about the display.
Yay! Another Lego lover…it would be great for you guys to see it. I really hope you get to it x
Whaaaat – I am speechless (ish) – 2 amazing things made into one :
LEGO – I was practically raised on the stuff (being Danish and all) and ST. Pancrass is one of my all time favo London landmarks. Amazing indeed. Thanks for sharing – and see you soon – yay,
Axx
Hello, Danish Lego queen.. thought you might enjoy this. Haha. Yes, see you very soon xx
I’ll have to send the link to this post to Tal. He has been a lego fan for a long time!!
Hope Tal will enjoy this. Thanks honey x
Tina! How do you find this stuff!? This is amazing! I’m actually amazed it only took Warren 7 hours to build the station!
Fabulous. The book looks awesome too.
I have been to the LegoLand in Berlin once with the kids I used to take care of. It was such a fun day, even for me. Lego is pretty great!
Fab picks, as usual 🙂
Xx. Holly.
Can you believe it? 7 hours and without a guide???
I love that there’s a Legoland in Berlin and yes, I’m always up for going. Just love it. I have fond memories and
photos of taking my nephew to the one in Windsor.
Thanks darling x