Our first double 10K interview of this review! Let us welcome back Thomas Lajon, a.k.a. LEt.sGO and his THE LOST CITY & THE ARCHITECT'S HOUSE projects. Thomas talks about where his journey with LEGO bricks began and how it led to him having his project picked as an official LEGO ideas product. Find out more about his journey here.
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
My name is Thomas Lajon.
- Where are you from?
I live in Paris, but I am from Normandy. It's a very beautiful region, very inspiring.
- How old are you?
I’m 27.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I’m a director and a screenwriter. I usually write fiction projects, but currently I am also working on a documentary.
- What hobbies do you have?
I divide my time between my family, my writing, and my LEGO bricks.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I now have a personal website here. But you can also find me on the usual social networks: @letsgolegobrick.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I had DUPLO bricks (or what I called "big LEGO bricks") from a very young age. I had a lot of them, thanks to older cousins who gave them to me. In particular, I had enough to make trains, including one with a motorised system! Maybe I had too many of them all over the floor. This was the subject of some scolding from my parents. Then, at the age of four, I got my first LEGO System bricks (the "little" LEGO bricks). That was the beginning of a long collection.
I visited the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Exo Force universes a lot, as well as LEGO City: fire station, police station, lifeguard base, etc. For a long time, I had fun mixing these universes to create what my little brother and I called our "base". From one period to another, we favoured this or that universe to build this sort of city. which always ended up being destroyed in a great final battle against the forces of evil! Furthermore, our bases were accompanied by ships and other vehicles, which became bigger and bigger as time went by. The last base and its ships, which I built 15 years ago with my brother, is still at my parents' house, in the small attic room where we played as children.
Adolescence marked a halt in my interest in LEGO bricks. Not so much because I was less interested in them, but because I was concerned about how others would look at me, and I had to show that I had left childhood behind. For studies and work, I then moved to Paris where I could see a LEGO Store arriving which awakened my appetite for bricks.
It was my girlfriend who took the first step, at the time, by offering me the first set of a LEGO collection that keeps growing! After the lockdown due to the health crisis, she also encouraged me to create virtual models on Studio. My very first project created with this software was the Orient Express. And in October 2022, a dream came true, with the selection of the same train to become an official LEGO Ideas set.
- What is the LEGO hobby to you? What does it mean to you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
The LEGO Hobby is two things to me.
The first one is the creative part, which is infinite (only the number of pieces limits us). This concept of interlocking bricks is fantastic, better than a 3D puzzle, because you can combine them in almost any way. At the same time, it’s not model making - we represent things but with an abstract part, which puts our imagination to work. In short, it’s a creative tool that stimulates imagination and intelligence, because there is also a great part of technicality.
The second one is sharing. Since I have been building with LEGO bricks, I have shared wonderful and incredibly special moments, especially with my little brother, when we were younger. We had our LEGO bricks in a little attic. It was our den where we built, deconstructed, rebuilt and played (sometimes in secret when it was late). I also remember the plans we made to acquire new sets; our parents took us to the toy store where we drooled over the shelves filled with boxes we dreamed of!
Today the passion and the sharing continue with my family, my friends and my girlfriend (because I got her involved)!
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I have been lucky enough to have several of my projects selected by the community. This is my fourth and fifth project to be awarded the support of 10,000 people. So I've been lucky enough to be interviewed several times and every time I'm asked this question, I always have something different to answer. And the answer to all the projects can be found here: since I was a child, I have always been curious about a thousand and one things. Whether the subjects are technical or artistic.
Curiosity is the key.
When I was training to be a scriptwriter, I attended the masterclass of a French comic book author: Fabien Vehlmann. He taught me the theory of peanuts: our mind is full of floating peanuts. Every time we learn something, we get fed and create a peanut. The more we are fed, the more peanuts there are and the more likely it is that two peanuts will meet to create an idea.
For the Lost City, I was fascinated by the myth of Atlantis. I was particularly a fan of Stargate Atlantis when I was younger. Also Atlantis, the Lost Empire, the Disney animated film. That's where I got my main inspiration for this creation: the Lost City, it's a kind of Atlantis. It's a ruined city, devoured by nature which is taking over. I was also influenced by the film The Lost City of Z. That's why I imagine a city lost in a mysterious tropical forest that adventurers from another era try to find.
For The Architect's House, I was inspired by old drawings I made when I was in high school. Before I wanted to make films, I wanted to be an architect: I dreamt of building castles like the one in Beauty and the Beast, chocolate factories like Willy Wonka's, schools at the crossroads of Hogwarts (Harry Potter) and Alféa (Winx Club) or modern houses made of wood and glass, in the heart of a forest of fir trees (yes, a bit like the Hoke House seen in the Twilight saga.)
- How long was the process of making the project, and what did you have to research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
Whatever the project, it's always hours, days and nights spent in front of the screen, in Studio, assembling virtual brick after virtual brick of the project. Doing, undoing and redoing.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
I can mention one of the frustrations I have with each of my models: they are all digital. I have good projection skills and I have manipulated enough bricks and built enough sets to be able to know what makes sense, but you can't have it all right when building a virtual model. I have proof of this: with smaller MOCs, I have acquired the bricks necessary to build them and each model has required adjustments.
Otherwise, I loved building these two buildings which are in two very different worlds. For the Lost City, I loved creating the details that mark the passage of time: with the vegetation, the destruction of elements to make them ruins or the choice of different colours for the same object, to mark its degradation. For the Architect's House, I loved trying to create a balance between modern forms (cubic shapes with heavy use of glass surfaces) and natural forms (with materials like stone, wood and vegetation).
- If you could talk to yourself before you started on this project, what would you tell them? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
"Get more ready!"
It's always exciting to embark on a new project when you've only sketched the outline. The preparatory work may take a little time, but it's time saved during the design phase and frustration saved when you build something and have to start all over again because you didn't anticipate the next phases enough. Trust some of my experiences.
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
From one project to another, the time for design or promotion varies. In design, it is sometimes necessary to take a break and step back. Promotion is subject to many parameters. Some of these are under control (texts, visuals), some tend to be less unknown (choosing an Ideas project that might appeal) and some remain great unknowns.You have to be willing and patient. Sometimes it's very hard because you feel like you've given a lot of yourself to a build and yet the growth in the number of supporters and the number of people interested in the project is disappointing. You don't feel that they have the same passion for the project as you do. But that's normal and I face the same problems in my job as a scriptwriter. There are projects that will grow for a long time, but surely. Others will never reach their goal, no matter how good they are.
“There is no point in running; you have to start on time.”
I think that's a saying that applies quite well to the Orient Express project I did. I posted it once, but it was deleted because it contained too many bricks. So I started the project again and slowly, but surely, it reached 10K. Then, with great joy, I learned that the project had been approved to become a future LEGO Ideas set.
Take your time! As with the assembly of a set, you have to savour every step.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It is always a moment of great joy and infinite gratitude for all the people who made it possible for the project to reach 10K and who believed in the project.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
Each project contains almost 3000 bricks.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
For the Architect's House, I love the little waterfall under the house. It is, in addition to the shape of the large front window, a striking element of this set. The waterfall is reminiscent of the Fallingwater or Kaufmann House by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.For the Lost City, there is a pool under the main nave. And I have made this pool a bit magical. As if it were simply a tinted mirror, there is a room under the water's surface. There is something similar in the throne room in Atlantis, the Lost Empire.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I used Stud.io by Bricklink.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
My only advice is to use your imagination. Making LEGO MOCs is about turning plastic bricks into something that tells a story and inspires.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support for your Product Idea?
I was able to promote my project thanks to the great LEGO community on the Internet. I also think I was incredibly lucky. A chance that I owe to this AFOL community. I sincerely thank everyone who supported me, sent messages, and shared the project. Without them, none of this would have been possible. Each project is an adventure that 10,000 of us share.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
LEGO bricks have something very technical, straight, and square. When someone comes up with something that makes you forget about that and just let the poetry and the story that the set tells show through, then that's a great model, in my opinion. And the set that has made me feel this the most, for me, to this day, is The Treehouse.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
This platform is a gold mine of ideas!
I advise everyone who would like to publish an idea to take great care of the presentation, especially the images. People have to click on the project. Show everything that can seduce! Don't do as I did, e.g. publish your project too quickly. Wait until you are sure that it is at least, at minimum, completed.
