From the White House to presents between diplomats: Lego conquers the grownup public brick by brick | Culture | EUROtoday

The king of Spain, the president of Germany and the Dutch prime minister have been current. The Grand Egyptian Museum was inaugurated in Cairo, essentially the most full exhibition story on the planet in regards to the civilization that arose on the banks of the Nile River. After twenty years of works, surprises, delays and revolutions, the long-awaited venture turned a actuality. So the Danish Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, thought that such a solemn event deserved a present to match. Not even protocol may comprise the keenness of his native counterpart, Badr Abdel Aty, when he acquired it: his smile, in an official {photograph}, is identical as that of tens of millions of kids – and more and more extra adults – in entrance of a brand new Lego. Specifically, the Great Pyramid of Giza, a recreation of the traditional marvel that stands close to the brand new artwork gallery. It is estimated that the unique building took at the very least 20 years. Who is aware of how lengthy it’s going to take for the Egyptian politician: he should match collectively 1,476 items, one of many largest units within the catalogue. Meanwhile, the Danish firm has positioned one other brick on its fame. She has all the time visited many properties, however now she is invited to essentially the most unique rooms. Even the White House, in its ornament for this Christmas, shows a portrait of President Trump product of Lego.

Just eight years in the past, the Danish firm noticed its earnings fall and laid off a part of the workforce. Today, it has turn out to be some of the stable and acknowledged companies on the planet. Not solely in childhood: a neologism, Kidults, displays the additionally unprecedented rise in grownup consumption. The firm sells bins to construct from a French fry truck or a rooster farm to the Trevi Fountain or The starry evening by Van Gogh, passing by means of the Millennium Falcon or the machines that Aloy faces within the online game Horizon. Brands like Disney, Stranger Things or the Spice Girls have approved her to decompose and reassemble her symbols. And the little yellow dolls already look related success in garments, motion pictures or board video games, like Brick like This! o Monkey Palace. A research, collected in 2019 by the company Bloomberg, concluded that investing in Lego had confirmed to be extra worthwhile between 1987 and 2015 than in gold, artwork or wine.

The firm, created in 1932 by carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, maintains the identical motto as all the time: “Inspire and develop the builders of the future.” Although there are additionally its primary issues: costs which can be typically inconceivable even for at present’s builders. And plastic manufacturing that exactly threatens that future.

“His business was always based on diversification. The founder started with all kinds of toys, first made of wood. But he ended up focusing on building bricks, and that was where he decided to focus his energy,” displays Sarah Herman, writer of books equivalent to Building a Story: the Lego Group o A Million Little Bricks. To write them, he researched, requested questions and had entry to the principle headquarters, in Billund, a Danish city of about 7,000 inhabitants the place the corporate was born and retains its coronary heart. From there he got here out with a shock: “Many believe that there were bricks and figurines from the beginning, but that is not true.” Jens Nygaard Knudsen, the inventor of the yellow miniatures, clarified it. The man, apparently, ran a retailer, earlier than signing in 1968 for the corporate, which commissioned him to create the “Lego people.” The first, unveiled in 1974, was bigger and extra detailed than the present one. Hence, the buildings to deal with them additionally required more room and items. This is how the so-called “extra” arose, a smaller and less complicated model. Some 50 prototypes progressively introduced it nearer to the icon of at present.

“We have hundreds of designers [más de 430 en Billund]”, human inspiration, numerous tests and product studies, and very precise manufacturing,” summarizes the creative process, Pilar Vilella, director of the brand for France and Iberia. And Rok Zgalin Kobe, designer of the Lego Architecture section, which reproduces buildings such as the Eiffel Tower or Himeji Castle, explained on the official website the development of a popular project: the Colosseum, launched in 2020 with 9,036 pieces, the largest number in the company’s history. “One of the most stressful moments is when the product of months or years of your work is pushed into an industrial oven,” he stated. After all, the copy aspired to defy the passage of time identical to the Roman authentic.

Although the Lego model of the Amphitheater Flavium exemplifies way more than the corporate’s ambition. The really helpful age is eighteen and up, the one that may spend essentially the most on toys within the US in 2024, as Herman factors out. “It has always been expensive entertainment. But larger and more expensive sets are a more recent phenomenon. And it has a lot to do with adult fans, who have turned collecting them into an issue linked to status,” provides the author. Pilar Vilella acknowledges that some launches have “higher prices”, which she pertains to the variety of items, analysis and “exclusivity”. At the identical time, keep in mind that 1 / 4 of the catalog prices lower than 19.99 euros. And in any case it celebrates the eagerness of the elders, destined to cross it on to their kids.

Lego must make room for round 800 new merchandise per 12 months, which is why some creations endure gradual discontinuation. “Lego sets do not show a significant correlation with financial crises and can be seen as an attractive investment with potential diversification,” concluded the evaluation of two,300 units cited by Bloombergand performed by Victoria Dobrynskaya, assistant professor on the Russian Higher School of Economics.

“The Lego brick has an enduring appeal: it transcends language, culture, age and interests,” boasts Pilar Vilella. And he defends that it stays the middle of his technique: any new initiative should “follow the DNA” of the model. They have already got a presence in cinema, board or digital video games, collection or books, and greater than 20 licenses, chosen primarily based on pattern research, listening to followers, permanence calculations or the complexity of their switch to building. Although the provide is anticipated to be expanded: the appliance Lego Play desires to introduce programming in some units, and the grownup group can now arrange the Mona Lisa, a tropical aquarium or an orchid. An method that, in accordance with Herman, has borne good fruit, after extra unsure and irregular many years: “Some fans can approach through Star Wars or Harry Potter, and buy only the sets of those licenses. And it creates an aspect of collecting, as well as a certain expectation for new things. They have also invested heavily in the brand, in building trust and a reputation for quality. Video games and movies have contributed to reinforcing it, introducing more humor and characters, and gaining new audiences.”

There is, nonetheless, a guess that doesn’t fairly work out for Lego. In 2021, the corporate introduced checks to make a brick product of recyclable plastic, as a substitute of the normal and polluting ABS plastic. In the tip, nonetheless, he selected to attempt to scale back the carbon footprint of his normal useful resource. “We tested hundreds of materials. It is simply not possible to find one that is the same,” CEO Niels Christiansen confessed in 2023 to the Financial Times. And Tim Brooks, head of sustainability, described the failed makes an attempt to seek out alternate options as “disappointing”: in some circumstances, the method to acquire the identical resistance and effectiveness by means of different means ended up contaminating much more. Thus, the preliminary goal of eliminating any plastic from petroleum from its creations by 2030 has been postponed to 2032, together with a discount in its emissions by 37% in comparison with 2019. “It is something complex, because the new bricks have to meet safety, quality, and durability standards,” Villela acknowledges. He assures that greater than 600 supplies have been experimented with, and that the analysis ranges from synthetic marble to sugar cane, the stays of fishing nets or recycled oils. This identical 12 months, in the meantime, the deadline for one more dedication that Lego made: to surrender any single-use plastic in all its packaging expires.

“The very nature of these global brands is antithetical to reducing carbon emissions and climate change,” Herman stresses. And he means that the corporate guess extra on a path that it’s starting to take: the free supply, and even with bonuses, of outdated units in order that they are often reused by others. The author provides: “In its defense, the durable nature of Lego means that one person’s collection can be passed down to another generation, and have a few more lives.” It seems that bricks construct the whole lot. Even monuments to remembrance.