People
What do Davy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Merlin have in common? All of them were built in LEGO form by Rickard Stensby, a builder from Sweden. His specialty is building figures and characters in a larger scale than minifigure, allowing him to sculpt details that are usually restricted by a minifigure’s size. His creations also have a cartoony style about them—a series of hunter’s trophies he built have a Dr. Seuss feel. Another sculpture hilariously brings into mind John Cleese’s posture for the Ministry of Silly Walks (a Monty Python skit).
Rickard Stensby:
Rickard is happy to describe himself in the same manner. When interviewed online, he described his age as, “Most of me just turned 40, my back is around 57 and my knees just retired.” Asked about how he has been building, his answer was, “I’ve built LEGO as a grown-up since 2014, starting off with my ’80s LEGO from the attic.”
One of the many dancer models Rickard builds.
Building like a LEGO Master!
Article and Photography by Rickard Stensby
His return to building happened by chance. Rickard had his sister’s kids over for some playtime and he brought out his old LEGO boxes from the attic. The kids went home, but the boxes never went back up the attic. The boxes now reside in one of the largest rooms in his house, while his attic is full of crates from the LEGO Masters win… (LEGO Masters Sweden—this will be touched on in a bit). In terms of favorite theme he states: “I’m probably not very interested in any of the official themes or sets. I enjoy building anything with character, really. Caricature portraits with a cartoonish look is probably a decent description of my style and theme.”
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