Jeffery Viens: Answering the Collector’s Call

People

Pitold working on his layout.

Piotr Pitold Maciejewski: Making Dioramas, Models, and Games!

Article by Joe Meno Photographs by Piotr Pitold Maciejewski

Piotr Pitold Maciejewski (known as Pitold online) is a Polish LEGO fan that has been building for over 35 years. As he recalls, since he was 12 or 13, he started building when he got his first set, the Tractor (6608) with minifigure. He had to play with just this set for the entire year until the next Christmas. Poland was depressed in the ’80s and ’90s and so his LEGO collection was very small. When the Iron Curtain collapsed, his parents were able to buy him a few more sets. His first years LEGO building, he built not only with the bricks and elements he had, but also with anything he found: paper, styrofoam or box cartons. For him, this was a creative learning and shaping experience that led him to his career, and eventually back to building. Pitold stopped building in high school and while he attended the Fine Arts Academy in Poznań, Poland. He graduated specializing in animation and became a graphic designer for advertising agencies. After graduating, he also got married and had two sons, which eventually led him back to LEGO.

Careerwise, Pitold had started making advertising videos and art movies, so after leaving agency work, he and a friend started a small film company where he still works as an art director, director of photography, editor, and 2-D animator. One of their advertising campaign movies was honored with a Silver Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate and TV media awards in 2018.

A panoramic view. LEGO. He also has used LEGO Digital Designer software to build his concepts, but he has never ordered parts to make those creations. That may be his next step. With his layout, he used more than a few of his filmmaking skills. The layout is set up like a stage for a photo shoot, using lighting and cinematography tricks to set the mood for the environment. Like a movie set, the layout is built only around a restricted camera view. His layout is along a wall of his office, so it’s impossible to see it from all sides. Lighting is done using small, inexpensive LED lamps from IKEA that are sold around Christmas. These are usually battery powered, but Pitold modified them to be powered from a wall outlet.

Watching the land below from the Crab.

Pitold also worked on another project, his ’pandemic quarantine project,’ as he calls it: the Crab. He started building the craft in March during lockdown, as all of his work was frozen. Like building his layout, building the Crab was very good psychotherapy for him. lt took him two weeks to build the Crab, including all its modifications and lighting it. He didn’t have to buy any new sets or parts for it— he already had all the parts on hand. When asked about the Crab’s pups, Pitold is happy to explain, as he was thinking about it while he was building. The Crab is a two-person flying workshop. An antigravity flying system gives the Crab flight and hovering capability.

Building

Sarah Beyer home builder

Article by Sarah Beyer

Sarah Beyer has been displaying and building models in Europe for only a few years, but has been showcased online and at events. A resident of Sweden, her building interests are varied, so for BrickJournal, the focus is on two of her houses. She took some time to answer our questions about her building process and style.

curry house: a calm and silent place to call home

The Curry House is a great example of the thoughtfulness of Sarah’s builds. The house is completely realized, from the rounded window bay on the second floor to the swimming pool on the ground level. Inside, there are rooms with shelves and furniture and even wall art. It’s a perfect place for a minifigure to live.

Building

Jaap’s Fallen Temple.

Builder Profile: Jaap Bijl

Article by Joe Meno

Jaap Bijl is a 24-year-old builder that has been LEGO building all his life. Beginning with LEGO Primo (if you remember that), then going to Duplo, then in to the regular sets, LEGO was always in Jaap’s life. A hint of his hobby showed when he got LEGO sets for his birthday. He always built the sets, but never really played with them—he immediately started transforming and expanding them. Building in one way or another has always been something that Jaap has been doing. As a kid, he never played with his toy, he was just building with them, even if it was not made for building. As he says, “Maybe I’m just a bit stubborn.” While he never really stopped building from his childhood, Jaap thought that he had outgrown the bricks at the age of 14. He barely built then, until he stumbled upon some of the medieval builds by Derfel Cadarn. When he saw what was possible with the bricks, Jaap thought, “I want to be able to do that as well!” That became the point that his bricks transformed from a toy to an artistic medium.

When he returned to building, Jaap made medieval models and focused on being a castle builder. This began to change as he expanded his building efforts and started taking more unconventional paths, so much that the Castle