The LEGO House, located in Billund, Denmark, is the ultimate LEGO destination for fans of all ages, drawing visitors from over 120 countries in 2024 alone. Since its opening in 2017, adult fans of LEGO from around the world, known as AFOLs, have been selected to showcase their unique LEGO builds in the Masterpiece Gallery exhibition. From the 25th of September to the following year, the LEGO House presents a new exhibition featuring exceptional fan-built creations by fifteen carefully chosen AFOLs.
“The LEGO House is a global community clubhouse, where we bring together unique LEGO stories to inspire LEGO enthusiasts from around the world – and the Masterpiece Gallery is a prime example of this. Each year, I look so much forward to seeing the remarkable creations built by LEGO fans from around the world. Every build in the exhibition reflects great effort and creativity and brings joy to everyone who visits. We look forward to sharing the exhibition and hope our guests leave inspired to continue building their own ideas with LEGO bricks, no matter their age,” says Kathrine Kirk Muff, Managing Director of the LEGO House.
This year, the Masterpiece Gallery exhibition is one of the most diverse and ambitious curation of LEGO models to date. Designers hail from Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, UK, USA, and Vietnam. The LEGO House is the pinnacle location for them to express their love of creating with LEGO bricks, their rich cultures, and their wildest design ideas.
Located on the top floor, the gallery highlights these talented builders and their imaginative LEGO designs that push the boundaries of creativity. For any AFOL, having their creations displayed at the LEGO House is a dream come true, offering a unique opportunity to share their passion with a worldwide audience.
One of the AFOLs is Victoria Worsley from the United Kingdom. She has been a LEGO fan for 9 years, but her fascination for LEGO play began from references in her childhood. Victoria has created two builds for the gallery – a 1950s-style diner, and a house, both populated with LEGO Belville figures.
“I still can’t believe my builds will be exhibited at the LEGO House. It feels like a dream come true. In my models, I draw inspiration from older LEGO themes, particularly those originally designed to appeal to girls, like Belville. I am extremely proud to have been selected to exhibit, and I hope that my work will inspire others, but especially girls and women to start building too,” says Victoria Worsley.
For many AFOLs, LEGO bricks are a medium for artistic expression, relaxation, and social connection, and the LEGO House has been designed to be the ultimate experience for all fans of LEGO play, no matter their age.
As the AFOL community has continued to grow year after year, now close to 25% of all visitors to the LEGO House each year are adult LEGO lovers visiting without children. For the LEGO House’s own Master Builder, Stuart Harris, who helps select the exhibitors for the Masterpiece Gallery, this means that the level of creativity continues to amaze him.
“The LEGO fan community continually inspires us with their creativity and technical skill, showcasing the limitless possibilities of the LEGO brick. In our selection process, we evaluate the overall theme, nice usage of elements, color, storytelling, details, and humor. We also attend LEGO fan conventions across Europe, North America, and Asia each year. I am consistently amazed by the creativity and passion of AFOLs, who reveal new possibilities with the LEGO brick that I might never have imagined,” says Stuart Harris, Master Builder at the LEGO House.
One of the artists exhibiting in LEGO House is Donny Chen. He lives in Australia and works as a piano teacher. Donny has been a LEGO fan for 13 years, particularly focusing on innovative designs that draw on his Chinese heritage. He is showcasing three of his creations, including a golden dragon constructed from almost 7,000 pieces to commemorate the Lunar Year of the Dragon.
“Every new build is a chance to learn something new, and I really enjoy tackling different challenges with LEGO bricks. For me, it’s the variety and overcoming obstacles that make building with LEGO bricks so much fun,” says Donny Chen.
Another artist contributing to the Masterpiece Gallery is Roldan Grace from the United States. He is the youngest exhibitor this year in LEGO House, being only 19 years old. Roldan has been playing with LEGO bricks since the age of 4, and it has played a significant role in his entire childhood. Roldan loves to create architectural models, animals, faces, and abstract sculptures. At the LEGO House, he will be showcasing his impressive large Knight on Horseback model, which consists of over 11,000 bricks and is accompanied by a Scarlett Macaw and a Wandering House, to create a unique universe.
All fifteen LEGO exhibitors will personally transport their intricate and delicate models to Billund. They will work together with Stuart Harris and the LEGO House team in the installation of their builds in the Masterpiece Gallery, ensuring they are presented exactly as intended, and providing them with the ultimate pride as they stand back and admire their creation in the full lineup before the doors open and the public get to enjoy the spectacle of the new exhibition. Below is the list of exhibitors at the Masterpiece Gallery:
- Donny Chen, Australia
- Dicken Liu, China
- Roldan Grace, United States
- Victoria Worsley, United Kingdom
- Jessica Bavier, United States
- Victor van den Berg, Netherlands
- Khang Huynh, Vietnam
- Nathan Don, United States
- Tamami Takado, Japan
- Martin Gebert, Germany
- Steven Howard, United States
- Takuya Fukugawa, Japan
- Andrew Steel, Australia
- Aiden Kessel, Australia
- Jiwoo Seon, South Korea
The exhibition in the Masterpiece Gallery will be accessible to the public from the 27th of September, 2024. For LEGO fans, a visit to the LEGO House in Billund is a must-see, and for many, it is a bucket-list destination as Billund represents the heart of LEGO play, where fans can fully dive into a world of bricks and creativity.
On 26th September, an exclusive AFOL event will host 600 participants for a day packed with unique fan experiences and the chance to connect with fellow enthusiasts. Attendees will be among the first to explore this year’s Masterpiece Gallery, and tickets for the event have already sold out. For more information about the LEGO House and upcoming events, visit LEGOHouse.com.
Have you been to the LEGO House? Or would you like to go? And how do you like the exhibits created by LEGO fans? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
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Wow. Belville! I haven’t seen that mentioned for a long time! Especially since Friends is now the rage. Good for her!
If you’re into dollhouses, I guess the somewhat more realistically poseable Belville figures might be useful, and the scale could lend itself to greater detail. There’s a relatively limited scope of Belville figures released, though, especially on the male side.
Belville has gotten a lot of slack, but it pretty much felt like Lego already when it first appeared, unlike the Barbie-inspired doll line that was Scala.
Apparently, the old style Belville dolls could largely be customized by pulling and putting the various limbs apart and together, though. Which I guess at least helps to facilitate variety.
Dear lordy, that dragon is gorgeous! What an amazing build! I wonder how many pieces it has. It looks huge and so detailed!
Seems to be thousands of this piece, for starters.
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=66857&colorID=115&in=A
And yeah, it’s amazing, it barely looks like Lego at all.
I have seen that dragon circulating in Facebook groups. It’s so beautiful!
I belong to several FB LEGO groups and I have seen that dragon too. It’s amazing. But I also really like the Phoenix. It’s a unique building style and very colorful. Almost like pixel art.