Bricktionary: The Interactive Exhibition is coming to Dublin this Sunday, 10 March, in the city's Theatre of Light in the Point Village.
Ahead of the event, we caught up with Ryan 'The Brickman' McNaught, who will be bringing the exhibition to Dublin for its European debut.
A LEGO Certified Professional (yes, they really do exist), Ryan is globally recognised for his incredible brick building skills and has even taken on the role of judge on Channel Four's hit show LEGO Master's Australia.
"It is a bit of an unusual job," he laughs. "There's not to many of us that play with LEGO for a living, but I've been doing it for about 15 years now as my profession."
With such an unusual job title, it's unsurprising that Ryan's career path has been anything but straightforward. In fact, the Aussie-native admits to spending many years as a "suit wearing person" while working as the chief information officer of a large media company.
The opportunity to switch things up came about when he collaborated with LEGO on a series of robotics and engineering sessions in schools across Australia. From there, he decided to make the "tough decision" to play full time.
As well as creating jaw-dropping displays, and putting his encyclopedic knowledge of the iconic toy to work in a series of children's books, McNaught spends much of his time touring a series of exhibition's across the globe.
Having toured Bricktionary across Asia and the US already, Dublin will mark the first stop of the European tour for McNaught.
"With a name like Ryan McNaught, I had to go to the homeland," he laughs. "I love Ireland and I have lots of relatives over there, it's where my heritage is from, so I'm looking forward to getting back over."
Take a closer look at how our Explorer and this cute penguin family came together!🐧@LEGO_Group #Brickman #LEGO #LEGOStore #LCS #Riccarton #Minifig pic.twitter.com/hvNwo2Of2n
— The Brickman (@_TheBrickman) June 27, 2023
Developed by a team of 30 professionals over the course of a year, the upcoming exhibit features over 150 models, hand made from over 1,000,000 bricks, all stemming from Ryan's bestselling book The Bricktionary: The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z.
"We made all sorts of crazy models for the exhibition," he promises, explaining that guests will have the chance to add to the impressive collection in a variety of areas, ranging from arms for robots to woodland animals for the show's life-sized brick tree.
Reflecting on the universal nature of the toy, McNaught admits that although there are some nuances, the global tour has been surprisingly straightforward.
"There are no words on the LEGO set, so a child in Saudi Arabia verses a child in Ireland verses a child in China verses a child in Australia - they're all building the same sets in the same way. They've got this ubiquitous, non-language based thing."
"As a general rule, kids are the same the world over: they love to play."
The Brickman team are really proud of this one! Take a peak behind the curtain ➡️
— The Brickman (@_TheBrickman) February 4, 2023
Unofficially named Chad, this GIANT Minifig has just found its new home at the LEGO Certified Store in Miranda, NSW! 🎉#LEGO #LCS #LEGOStore #Brickman #LEGOStoreMiranda #Minifig #Minifigure pic.twitter.com/3etFEE7Djn
Ryan will be sharing his expertise and insights with Irish super fans on 11 and 12 of March, for an intimate masterclass and book signing.
Starting at €30, tickets will give Irish fans access to the only LEGO Certified Professional in the Southern hemisphere.
For more information, visit www.thebrickman.com.
