BUILDING BLOCKS

It’s a rare thing to be able to turn a childhood pastime into an occupation but Nicholas Foo is living proof that it can happen, a Lego-certified professional, Foo has the honour of being the only one based in Asia. From a 1.65m tall Retro Rocket to the iconic Merlion statue, Foo showed us that with Lego blocks, anything is possible. CATALOG talked to the master builder of miniature bricks about all things Lego.

Do you get a lot of question on how to become a Lego-certified professional?

Yeah. I usually direct people to Lego's website and I understand people’s curiosity about what I do. I’m happy to tell them more about it, it’s also part of the job scope. I tell people that Lego-certified professionals are artists or business people who actually use the bricks as a medium for work, either full-time or part-time.

But anyone can sign up for it?

If someone were to deal in Lego bricks as a hobby, I would say “yeah, by all means.” But as a career? There are factors to consider: how are you going to run this; how to manage this as a business? There are people who are only in it for the money and that won’t lead to anything good.

This is my fifth-year as a Lego-certified professional and I still feel that the most important thing to have is the passion.

So, when did you decide to make that a career?

I think, the idea came to me when I started using Lego bricks as a medium to make gifts and presents. I uploaded the images [of the gifts] onto the Internet and a lot of people wrote to ask if I could make other Lego-made gifts for them.

At that time, there were only four Lego-certified professionals in the world and all of them were from the U.S. and I thought, “why not apply to be one?” After all, this is something that I had interest in and after working in the creative industry for 10 years; I needed something new to push the boundaries of my creativity.

What’s it like working for Lego?

I use Lego bricks as a medium so in return, Lego recognizes me as one of their certified-professionals. It’s a working relationship but basically, it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.

Is there anything with Lego that you want to attempt?

A lot actually! I’m still looking forward to my own art exhibition. Something that is less commercial. I’m hoping to focus on integrating the [Lego] bricks into interior designs.

What’s your work process?

I don’t have a fixed process. Usually, when I get a request, I can pretty much visualise the item. I’ll do a quick sketch and build from there. Other times, I can build it from scratch. Then, there are occasions when I have to conduct public participation and I have to churn out building instructions so the public can follow along.

When you’re building something, are there times when you have to request for a particular Lego piece?

We [Lego-certified professionals] all use existing materials that Lego have in their inventory. Lego won’t build a special piece for us; they don’t do that. We just have to be creative whenever there’s a problem.

And there are many ways of building a particular item. If you want to build a rectangular head, I could use plates, I can use bricks, I can use a mixture of both.

Some of your work is rather intricate like the Love Automata Series. Could you tell us about that project?

The Love Automata Series is my own exploration in using [Lego] bricks and transforming them into automatic toys. In the old days, the automata toys were made from wood and I thought I could improve on them. With wood, you can carve to form the shape you want but with pre-shaped Lego bricks, it’s more challenging; forethought needs to go into the process.

I developed the Love Automata Series for about half a year. I wanted to touch on what is universal, what is love and the idea of interacting with the user. The automata pieces aren’t something you put on display; you can actually operate them. Some of them make sounds and move.

It’s actually quite challenging to fit the moving parts within a small space. I always try to hide all the moving mechanisms so that you don’t think about them.

Do people try to look inside?

I’m sure they do. What I’m building isn’t something new; it’s just basic mechanics. It’s just how you apply the pieces, especially in the theme of the love.

How did you come up with the name Blackbulb?

It’s actually a tag that I’ve been using for a real long time. It’s about duality: you’ve a bulb that gives off light and the “black” plays on the opposite of it – dark and light. So, you have balance. Duality.

Another seemingly disparate genre you’re engaged in is the collaboration with Devilrobots. How did that begin?

It started with the first Singapore Toy Game Comic Convention. I introduced myself and told them I’m quite keen to work with them on something. We’re very different in terms of style - Devilrobots work with a lot of illustration, characters and stuff, while I deal in all things Lego.

One of our favourite pieces you did with them was of To-Fu driving in a car-

The To-Fu Mobile? It was a surprise gift for them [Devilrobots]. They were quite shocked when I presented it to them.

And it moves too, right?

Yeah. It’s remote-controllable.

Images courtesy of Nicholas Foo.