A familiar face to the 10K Club returns today; welcome back, Rafael Ponce de León Martos, a.k.a. Brick Dangerous and his fantastic THE TRAVEL SUITCASE. An innovative expression of the beauty of travel, this unique idea will be sure to catch any LEGO fan's eye. Show your support for Rafael in the comments!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Rafael Ponce de León Martos.
- Where are you from?
Málaga, Spain.
- How old are you?
37.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I work in a fashion store.
- What hobbies do you have?
I love playing with my children, reading comics, playing video games and, of course, building LEGO sets!
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I always upload my creations to my Instagram profile. There I also show the previous designs until I reach the final result of my projects.I also have a YouTube channel in Spanish where I talk about my constructions: the creational process, inspiration processes and the final results. I also talk about official LEGO sets and some fan designers.
- 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?
Many of you will already know my Marine Life MOC - it is my favourite creation. It was my first design to reach 10,000 supports and was later chosen by the LEGO Ideas team to compete in the Target vote. All this is an honour for me! I hope I can hit 10K again! Here you can see the second improved version I made.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
From a very young age, I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, and my parents gave me a bucket of basic pieces and that's where it all began. I had several sets until I was 15 or 16 years old. The following sets came as gifts from friends on my birthdays, when I was about 21 or 22 years old.
I never really had a dark age since I always followed the LEGO sets that came out on the market and, especially, always played the video games. Now I am a collector and I also buy sets to play with my children.
- 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.
I am not wrong if I say that LEGO hobby is present in my day-to-day life. I am a very creative person and I love thinking about what my next design will be. In fact, I have a notepad and I am writing down all my ideas so as not to lose them! Besides, I build my favourite official sets with my children or play their most childish sets with them. I love helping them build and seeing how they evolve! And, of course, now I play LEGO video games with them!
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
My favourite theme when I was a kid was LEGO City. To this day I still love this theme. I have to admit, however, that I am in love with LEGO Ideas. I always want to see what new set is coming out and what they surprise us with. Even so, I am a collector of the great pieces of other series such as Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. On the other hand, I think that no specific theme has inspired my way of building, but LEGO Ideas has made me think that LEGO products are something more serious than just any toy.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
Any bricks with studs on the sides. This opened the doors to make constructions that grew not only on the horizontal plane but also on the vertical one. It offers many creative options when building! I also really like the plates with a ball on the end, these pieces make the mobility of the constructions infinite!
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?Yes: official LEGO designers, Justin Ramsden and Matthew Ashton. I watched a documentary about Justin where he told his story as a kid with LEGO bricks and how he managed to get a job at the company. His nobility and enthusiasm made me quickly personally identify with him. Also, I love their designs! About Matthew, besides how funny he is, I think his design of 'Everyone is Awesome' goes beyond the simplicity of the toy. It becomes something sculptural, a design piece that conveys a very positive message.
On the other hand, as a fan designer, I admire @Bricky_Brick since his designs encouraged me to start making mocs. And a very special mention to my friend Marcos alias @Lepralego; I went from being a fan of his designs to talking to him daily and getting to know each other thanks to the LEGO Ideas platform. He is an excellent designer who evolves in each construction and he is also a great person! I'm sure he'll manage to turn one of his designs into an official set!
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
In general, I spend a lot of time looking at the constructions on the LEGO Ideas website, but where I spend the most time is on Instagram. The infinite possibilities that LEGO building offers is incredible; every day there is some construction that causes the WOW effect in me!
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I love to travel and I wanted to do some design related to travel, I thought that a travel suitcase could be a great design, but I didn't know what to put inside it, so I associated the interior with a landscape since on my trips. The most valuable thing I bring from my travels is my memories.
- 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?
Each design I make is more thought out - a year ago I had created several designs that took me about a week to build, such as my Classic Phone or my Hourglasses. But I am learning to better rest my ideas and give them more personality.It took about a week to create the base of the suitcase, I tried several sizes and I kept one in which I could place all the landscapes I wanted to build. The interior landscape took several tests and trials until the final one was left. Maybe I was in full for a month since I had never built on a micro scale! And that made me do a lot of research on the whole catalogue of parts and reinvent them to the needs that arose... A good example is turning a sausage into a bird!
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
Making a base for the suitcase was not something simple since I had to be able to build both outside of it, to place the pieces that simulate stickers and also had to build inside. To all this, we must add that it had to open and display the interior well. It was quite a challenge that cost me several different designs. The part of the handle and the closures seemed difficult to recreate. On the other hand, the interior on a micro-scale was a great challenge, since it is my first construction on this scale, I had a lot of fun and I do not rule out doing something again! It was great to reinterpret each piece!
- 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?
"Hey Rafa, the croissants would be the smoke from a train and some sausages would be birds!"Outside of joking, I think he would not tell me anything, I loved the creation process and I enjoyed every minute of looking for solutions!
- 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 it took me about a month to build it, and this time I promoted it on Instagram and Facebook, maybe the first week.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
This took 10 months to reach 10k. It was great to reach the finish line, although at first, I thought I had it very difficult, but when the Staff Pick arrived I knew I would make it - thank you all for your support! They are always exciting days!
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
1780.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
Well, I have several favourite parts, one in itself is the structure of the suitcase, with its handle and closures simulating being a real suitcase. And according to the landscape, I love the final result of the mountain peaks with the train in front or the part of the castle.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I have only used Studio 2.0 and the final assembly was done with Photoshop.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I used several stickers that I designed with photoshop to create the famous stickers that were placed on old travel suitcases. Each sticker represents a different country, usually countries I have visited or would like to visit!
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
I really think the wow effect is a great success for a project, without an IP, to reach 10k supports. For this, try to check if what you want to create does not exist and go ahead, build, but always keep something in mind: if you do not have fun building, you will not have a good project!
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support for your Product Idea?
I always post in Facebook groups and on my Instagram profile.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
I think the tree house is one of my favourite LEGO Ideas designs from @KevCircus, but recently I saw the Vincent van Gogh set: The Starry Night from @legotruman in the LEGO store and I thought it was great!
On the other hand, fan designs that did not reach the great goal, well I would say that recently I wanted the design of @Brickester's Notting Hill Market to be on the shelves. I also really liked The Little Venice by @Bricky_Brick and I will always want in my collection the @ReChokunMaestoso025 Stocchi set Planet Express Delivery Ship.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
On the platform there is a great atmosphere of camaraderie, I also like that there is a high level on the part of the fan designers and well, what can I say about a company as big as the LEGO Group, that shows that it listens to us, involving both fans and external designers of the company to create new models - this is great!
- 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?
Currently, I haven't had much time to design, but I have half finished a new decorative type design, which I hope to present as soon as possible. But hey, you can always continue supporting my active designs: Marine Life 2 surely needs your help!
