Although they are toys, Legos inspire amazing creations. LEGO artists use the small plastic bricks to create everything from architecture to robots. The company’s engineers also design new components that let builders to build more complex models. Erik Varszegi, a Master Builder who works for the Lego Group in Billund, Denmark developed a new element this year which is the curved slope. It allows Lego users create more slanted designs while staying within the company’s strict color palette. The slopes can be used to create more dynamic shapes, like a curving staircase.
Some Lego sets are the result of professional designers’ work, while others are the result of the wildly popular Lego Ideas program. The Ideas line gives anyone the chance to design a set and have it made, offering fame and a percentage of sales to designers who can convince 10,000 other designers that their design is worthy of being go into production. It’s no surprise that the most elaborate and noels bricks impressive sets typically garner the most popularity — especially when they contain iconic scenes or characters from television shows, films or from real life.
Two space icons are among the best Lego models that are available: the NASA shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Telescope model. Each model comes with display plaques and a tiny Lego version of the scientist that designed the telescope. Other impressive models include a framed Rainbow and a Steampunk dragon, and a replica of the Westminster Palace.