Daniel Konstanski - The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, the Knob and Brick configurations, DUPLO and the DUPLO logo, BELVILLE and the BELVILLE logo, FRIENDS and the FRIENDS logo, NINJAGO and the NINJAGO logo, HIDDEN SIDE and the HIDDEN SIDE logo, LEGENDS OF CHIMA and the LEGENDS OF CHIMA logo, NEXO KNIGHTS and the NEXO KNIGHTS logo, BIONICLE and the BIONICLE logo, MINDSTORMS and the MINDSTORMS logo and LEGOLAND are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2022 The LEGO Group.

Manufactured under license granted to Ameet Sp. Z o.o by the LEGO Group.

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A.P. Moller Maersk

First published in 2022

Text design by Amazing15

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781800181885 (limited-edition hardback)
ISBN 9781800181960 (ebook)

To adult fans of the LEGO brick everywhere

I thought it would be a simple question. I was wrong. Over the course of nearly fifty interviews some with employees who had worked for the LEGO Group all the way back in the 1960s I asked one question in particular over and over again. My mission was to discover for myself the stories behind LEGO bricks and this particular one was becoming my holy grail.

I remember distinctly when the question first arose. This book, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks, was selected by fans via an online vote from three different options. It was a week after I had learned the result and my mind had not stopped racing: there were so many exciting possibilities. Much like the many designers and company insiders I would soon get to speak with, I had been given my own open-ended brief from the Publishing team at the LEGO Group and its fans. I had been entrusted with the responsibility of picking which tantalising stories and secrets I should try to uncover from a host of options. That evening I sat mulling over different ideas with a small pile of random bricks on the table in front of me. Amid the contemplation, it occurred to me to do something that, despite having written professionally about LEGO bricks for more than half a decade, on top of collecting and building continuously for over 30 years, I had never done before: I examined a brick.

From the table I picked up the most basic and iconic of all LEGO elements, a red 24. Almost immediately attributes and questions began figuratively leaping off the page at me. How did these plastic bricks stick together? I knew it had to do with the proprietary studs on top and tubes beneath, but how did they actually work? Where did this design and its dimensions come from? Picking up a second 24 brick, I noticed differences in wall thickness. Why was that the case? LEGO bricks work so well that I had never needed to stop and think about how they actually functioned, but as I sat there really looking at one for the first time, it occurred to me how little I knew about these toys I loved so much.

In the days and weeks that followed I got an education, and a team. Simon Beecroft, who served as editorial director and my handler, as I came to think of him, worked with me to develop the book plan, which was vetted and approved by the Publishing team at the LEGO Group. Next came one of this projects greatest joys. I was granted access to the very heart of the LEGO Group history: the digital archive. In this inner sanctum resides tens of thousands of documents and images going all the way back to the 1800s. Signe Wiese, one of the LEGO Group corporate historians, and a friend from many previous collaborations on projects, graciously approved my hundreds of requests for numerous files to examine.