We recently caught up with Mike to get the inside scoop on his creative process, upcoming designs for Holiday Hullabaloo 2024, and how he uses LEGO to capture the spirit of holiday themes. Read on for our Q&A with this inspiring builder...

​

Q: What sparked your initial interest in Lego, and how has it evolved into a professional pursuit?

​

A: I consider myself a LEGO hobbyist, not a professional. I was fortunate to grow up in the 80s with the multi-build LEGO sets that taught me to use the pieces creatively beyond just following instructions. After a long break during college and beyond (the "Dark Ages"), I rediscovered my passion when my son was around 5. Around then, the Iowa LEGO Users Group (IowaLUG) started, allowing builders to share creations and get build help. From those meetings, I took on a support role, creating challenges to help parents who struggled with building. This led me to develop techniques like the "Big Brick Build" to scale up designs, enabling larger projects like the Holiday Hullabaloo Santa and Tree.

​

Q: Can you tell us about your most challenging or rewarding Lego creation to date? What made it special?

​

A: The most challenging aspects are building faces with the eyes and freestanding arms to look natural. The body assembles quickly, but a face can take 6 hours. I even keep some assembled faces, though it looks creepy! Larger builds over 2 feet tall are challenging due to gravity affecting unsupported pieces. The most rewarding part is inspiring others, hearing them say "I can build that too." Seeing kids excited that they could recreate my large tree with the instructions was very rewarding.

​

Q: How do you approach designing large-scale Lego builds for events?

​

A: For event builds, I start with research on existing designs, drawing plans, building test prototypes to ensure scale and stability, considering transportation needs, then the final construction. For last year's 3-foot tree, I researched online trees, sketched upscaling a small set while keeping a blocky aesthetic, prototyped branches, calculated needing around 3,200 bricks, built a test version, then our group collaboratively assembled the final model before I disassembled and reconstructed it on-site.

​

Q: Can you give us a sneak peek of what attendees might expect to see in your Holiday Hullabaloo designs?

​

A: This year, I'm designing a new, larger 4-foot Santa - my biggest build yet and hopefully perfect for photo ops. Research and prototyping one 628-piece boot is underway. This Santa will be twice as big as last year's, requiring 4 times the bricks; thankfully IowaLUG approved 10,000 red bricks. For safe transportation, Santa will be built in two sections and assembled dramatically on-site. I'm also collaborating with LUG members on potential weekend displays like a train and winter village, though still in progress. You'll also find me at the LEGO Building Tables, inspiring creativity.

​

Q: How do you think Lego allows you to uniquely capture event/holiday themes?

​

A: While I don't consider myself a LEGO artist, my journey from doubting my abilities to realizing I can "just build and have fun" has made me approachable for events wanting local talent versus hired designers. LEGO provides a versatile medium of bricks and colors to create almost anything 2D or 3D, easier than laborious sculpting. And when done, I can disassemble pieces for the next project, albeit sometimes difficult. For me, LEGO is also tied to that holiday magic and joy, as I remember getting my first set at Christmas when people seem a bit more pleasant. I'm thrilled to return for Holiday Hullabaloo 2024 and hope to spark that festive creativity in all the builders this year.

 

As Mike prepares his exciting designs for Holiday Hullabaloo 2024, he could use a little help from the community. If you have any extra LEGO bricks laying around, especially black ones, please considering donating them. The more bricks available, the more creative and ambitious Mike's holiday builds can be! He's also in need of train tables to potentially incorporate a train display. Any gently used train tables or donations to help purchase new ones would be greatly appreciated. With your support, Mike can take this year's LEGO festivities to new heights and spread even more holiday magic through his inspiring builds. Please reach out if you can contribute bricks or train tables!