Paul Hetherington is a Canadian artist who was born in England, and raised in West Vancouver. He is a collector and a fan of Tiki culture, music, and architecture. Paul loves to travel, and attends many LEGO conventions. He is well-known in the LEGO community as a talented builder who stands out for his building style. Paul is a member of his local LEGO Club, the VLC. His works have been featured in all forms of media including books, magazines, news interviews, blogs, podcasts, and much more.  Paul posing with his Smith House II LEGO model in the famous floating living room of the Arthur Erickson designed Smith House II. photo credit: Melissa Rekve. Today I get to tell the story of how a simple MOC built by Paul led to an entire show connecting LEGO and the art world, showing that LEGO as an art medium. The Pink Palace The idea...

A lighthouse on the horizon can be a welcome sight for a weary sailor or a portent of rocks ahead. The beacons of light have inspired many LEGO builders to create their own versions, fore beautiful to foreboding. Sandro posing with his original lighthouse concept (right), and the final set design. Quite a few people have submitted lighthouse models to LEGO IDEAS in the past, but it is this model by Sandro Quattrini (Instagram) that outshined them all by making it past the evaluation stages and into production. You may already be familiar with Sandro from all of his recent character builds that continue to garner the attention of LEGO bloggers everywhere. When it comes to his finalized lighthouse design, you can tell that Sandro and the LEGO design team took just as much care in injecting as much character as they could into that endeavor as well. It is mentioned...

Today’s guest article comes from Casey McCoy, an AFOL from Chicago. You can find him online on Flickr and Instagram. Introduction In what was conceived to be a singular, lengthy, and robust reflection on the life and LEGO career of the preeminent AFOL Simon Liu, this article has morphed into a trilogy. This is the last part - seriously. In parts one and two, we covered Simon’s early childhood and education, his defining moment at Brickworld 2012, all the crazy things he’s done and built since, and more. If you haven’t yet, catch up by reading them here and here. Now let’s bring it home by analyzing his building influences, style, and legacy. Who Influences the Influencer? As we reflected in part one, the person who initiated Simon into the hobby and got him “up to speed” was Iain (~Ara~). But who did he look up to when he first got...

A new month is upon us which means more competitive building! Are you ready? Here’s the latest bunch of LEGO contests and challenges from all around the AFOL community for September 2024 to help you find some inspiration and motivation to build! There’s nothing quite like a theme or a prompt to take you out of your comfort zone and give you something new to try. Besides, contests are the perfect place to interact with other contestants and judges and get to know your fellow builders. And if you’re like me, a deadline helps make sure you actually finish! We’ve listed them in order of deadline so you can plan your building time to the best advantage. Make sure to check the LEGO activity calendar for local challenges and events near you. Here at BrickNerd, some of our fondest memories, greatest building achievements, coolest trophies, and best friendships came from LEGO...

A story about shopping blind bags at conventions and finding LEGO you never even heard of, years later, in your own collection. When my dark ages ended in 2012 and I discovered BrickLink, there was an almost endless world of weird LEGO to be discovered. There were so many obscure elements and themes released during my dark ages, but also before I was even born, waiting for me to explore. I spent countless hours just going through entries of Scala, Bionicle, Modulex, Sports, Duplo, Belville and so on, and mostly tried to incorporate the parts I find into my MOCs. This made me fascinated in obscure LEGO elements, an interest that still thrills me to this day.  Social Interaction and LUG Engagement Another thing that happened when I became an AFOL was that I joined a LUG and started hanging out with other AFOLs. I had never expected the community and...