Give a LEGO Ideas congratulations to Douglas Lambert, a.k.a. Dlambert, on his latest 10K submission: GOLDEN TRUMPET TREE WITH PARK BENCH. Inspired by the beautiful Yellow Ipê, native to his home in South America, Douglas has created a work of natural beauty. Show your support for Douglas down below!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Hi! My name is Douglas Lambert. Nice to meet you!
- Where are you from?
I'm from Brazil.
- How old are you?
37.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I graduated in Media Studies. Now I'm an editor and director of documentaries, working mostly with journalism.
- What hobbies do you have?
Oh boy, what hobbies don’t I have?! I'm an amateur infrared photographer, comic book artist, woodworker, engraver, and carver - I consider myself a generalist or an "art platypus”, as I like to call it. I love to create things, but I have a short attention span, so I'm always changing interest mid-project.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I share my creations on my Instagram account: @woodworking_lego
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud of it and do you have a photo of it?
I’ve created a series of woodworking benches following the designs in Chris Schwarz's book “Workbenches -From Design & Theory to Construction & Use”. I’m proud of the way I translated them into LEGO form.
- 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.
LEGO bricks were my favourite toy while growing up. I don't know how it came about, but it was an intrinsic part of my childhood. I don't recall any part of my life without LEGO bricks being around in one shape or another.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
I love architecture, in general, so the City theme and the modular buildings are really dear to me. I really like these new sets designed as vignettes or display pieces. I wish I had them all!
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
I don't think I have a favourite set ever, but I do have some fond memories of building the 1472 Vacation Home and the 6379 Riding Stable... Oh no! Forget that! 6973 Deep Freeze Defender! Best set ever! I loved that there were multiple ships and was completely fascinated that there was a magnet on a piece. Loved that set. Took me years to take it apart.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
As a kid I loved the translucent antennas. They were the closest I could get to a LEGO lightsabre. Now, for designing puposes, I think my favourite element is the T-bar. It allowed me to create more organic shapes by using them as multi-pivotal axles, if this sentence makes any sense to you.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
I'm going to be honest, I never thought in a million years there was such a thing as a LEGO designer. Toys were just toys, and as a kid, you don't imagine that there is an adult designing them. So, I never thought about it. Cut to 2015. I was shooting a video of an AFOL meeting in Brazil for the newspaper I worked for and there I met one of these mythical creatures, one of these LEGO designers: Marcos Bessa. So he is my favourite LEGO designer. How could he not?! How many times do you actually meet a real-life Santa's Elf? I also love the designs by Chris McVeigh and was super happy when he became an official LEGO designer. My woodworking benches are inspired by his computer desks.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
Since I have a dedicated Instagram account just for LEGO, I use the Collections function a lot and those collections are my main source of inspiration. I use them like folders for specific techniques or themes that I know I’ll use in the future.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
One of my many interests is botany. I love trees, but I don't like how little foliage LEGO trees tend to have. So, as a challenge, I decided to design an organic-looking tree and chose to base my model on one the most famous Brazilian trees (South American, really): the Yellow Ipê, or the Golden Trumpet tree, as it is known in English.
- 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?
Designing it took me about two weeks. I did it in my spare time, so it is hard to estimate. I wanted the tree to be minifig scale and wanted to use the Technic axle connector elements as the trunk, so the main challenge was finding a reference within this scale and with the right shape. Luckily there was this amazing photographer from Brasilia, Flávio Brandão, who shot a lot of blooming ipês from over there and one of the trees was perfect for it
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
The main challenge was escaping the layering that naturally occurs when you try to build a LEGO tree. If you are building a conifer, LEGO works great, but with the more random and wild growth of the Flowering South American trees, these layers tend to create very unrealistic shapes. So, the first thing I looked for was a way to pivot the branches any way I wanted. When I got to the T-bar solution, it was a matter of “bonsaing” my way to the proper shape.
- 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?
There was no point, really, in using the old type of yellow flower to create the blooms. Use two modern flowers, the modified 1x1 plate instead, and the whole build will be a bit more stable. Also, I would have added two minifigs sitting on the bench from the start. A lot of people asked me to do that, but I guess they don’t usually check the update tab on the project for I had already done that, putting me and my wife sitting under the tree.
- 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?
I think this is the hardest build I've ever done. The branches are intricate, and it took me a long time to make them just right. I really felt like I was reverse pruning a bonsai. I was slowly adding branches and flowers and balancing everything as I built. It was really fulfilling, but it was also hard. Promoting-wise, I relied heavily on social media, especially Reddit.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
I had zero expectations of reaching 10K. Really! This project was created as a test to find out how hard it would be. I had no idea I would get there. But once I started to see the numbers going up and the math projections kinda held up, it was a matter of waiting. There was a sense of relief, like, "I can't believe I did it", but the real joy was when it was picked by the LEGO Ideas staff. That was a complete surprise and I started crying (which was also a surprise) when I saw the Staff Pick seal and the Twitter post on the official LEGO Ideas account.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
Around 1,600 bricks, but most of them are yellow flowers. I think I scraped a lot of yellow flower inventory on BrickLink.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
I’m really proud of the whole T-bar solution for positioning the branches. I can see many uses for it in future tree builds.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I designed it on Stud.Io, which I love, but I also wanted to build it for real, so I saved some money and asked a cousin of mine to bring me the pieces from England. I wanted to see if the tree held up before it reached 10K so I could adjust the model and not be embarrassed by that during the review phase. It is kinda fragile, but it does hold up well.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I’ve designed a single piece, a plaque similar to those used in botanical gardens and some parks to identify a given tree. I tried to do so in a style similar to the Botanical Theme art direction. It’s the silhouette of an ipê flower followed by its binominal name. Very simple, but I think it added a new layer to the build. I designed it on PartDesigner, a software that is part of the Stuid.Io family.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
I know people want to design “winning sets”, but my suggestion is just to follow your heart. I love to see new and inventive sets not related to any IP. If you put your heart into it, no matter the theme, I’m sure it will find its audience.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
The first 100 were all "word-of-mouth" with family and friends. Then I reached for subreddits about toys, the maker community and the Brazilian groups on the internet. I quickly found out that for every 100 likes or upvotes, only 1 user took the time to go to the LEGO IDEAS website and support the project. So it was slow, but I made it.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
So far, my favourite was the early space sets from the Cuusoo era. I would love to own a MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY CURIOSITY ROVER set. And I would also love to see more real-life space sets, especially from the soviet era, like the ROSCOSMOS SOYUZ MS SPACECRAFT, for example. They had incredible designs and are really important to the history of space exploration.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
Working as a LEGO designer would be my dream job; the Ideas platform gives me a little taste of what it would be.
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint of what that might be?
I already have another Product Idea on the site, THE RED BARN WOODSHOP. It’s not doing so well support-wise, but I’m very proud of all the little LEGO machinery I’ve designed. They really do look like their real-life counterparts. I also intend to submit some new tree species in the future. The idea of building my own botanical garden is growing on me. Maybe my own version of Falkor, the luckdragon. My friends would sure like that.
