Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Griffith
Hi Brandon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey began with a LEGO Star Wars set I bought when I was a junior in high school. It was one of their smaller sets, the first year of the collaboration but I had no idea how much it was going to change my life. Looking back, it was the best $5.99 I’ve ever spent. LEGO was my favorite toy growing up but as I had gotten older, my interests had shifted to other things like music and typical teen things. It was that little set though that reignited that love and passion I had as a child but it took on a different life of its own.
I moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to pursue a career in sound editing for TV and film with LEGO as just a hobby. I found a community of like minded adults who shared my love of it and showed me just how far one could go in terms of what it could do to challenge me as an artist and as an art form.
I started building more and more, finding interesting and larger scale creations to build. I would try to think outside the box, use LEGO elements as they were not intended to create something new and interesting. Mosaics became my passion. I used the new techniques I developed to build stylized portraits of characters I loved from TV and film. It wasn’t long after, my work started getting noticed and was showcased in galleries around Los Angeles. Through that exposure, I was hired for commissions by both companies and private collectors. It was the success of The LEGO Movie (2014) that really shifted my career into overdrive, so much so that it was now a full blown career and my sound editing work had to take a backseat. By 2016, I was building full time and haven’t looked back since.
In the past eight years, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of designing and constructing LEGO brick built sculptures for private collectors, corporations such as FOX Sports, Pixar, Sony, and BBC America to name a few. These sculptures have ranged from something as simple as desktop model of a car to a seven foot tall professional team mascot. In 2019, I collaborated with another LEGO Brick Artist Nathan Sawaya. Together in association with Warner Brothers Television, we designed and built a life size version of Central Perk from the show Friends using over one million LEGO Bricks. In 2020, I started working on LEGO Masters (USA) as a consulting producer which also features sculptures I built for the filming of the show.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest challenge is self-imposed in a way. I am constantly trying to push myself to be a better builder. With each new job comes new problems to solve and design obstacles to overcome. This job is literally all about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. LEGO elements come in many shapes and sizes, but most are rectangular in shape. Using these rectangular elements to create elaborate curvy sculptures is a daily challenge that never goes away. As much as I enjoy facing challenges head on, the biggest difficulty comes from finding ways around this in the best way possible with the time constraints come with the project at hand.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an Independent LEGO brick artist. Simply put, I use LEGO elements to create art for fun and for hire! For commissions, clients will approach me with an idea of something they want built out of LEGO bricks. Based on their budget and time constraints, I work with them to design the largest and most detailed sculpture which might require putting together a rendering that the client approves. From there, it’s time to build. Typically, I will build the sculpture in my studio then have it shipped to the client.
Sometimes I get hired to do “Live builds”, which is basically performance art using LEGO. Typically, a company will have a booth at a large trade show and they want something unique to draw customers into their booth. The company and I will decide on a sculpture for me to build, I will design it and then bring the LEGO bricks I need to the conference. Over the next two to three days, I will stand in their booth and build the sculpture and have it completed for final day to put on display. Once the conference is finished, the client gets to keep the sculpture.
One of my favorite projects was the before mentioned life-sized immersive version of Central Perk from Friends. We spent a lot of time studying footage and visiting the actual set on Warner Bros lot. The finished product was an interactive recreation of the set, just built in LEGO elements. We built the furniture to be functional so you could relive your favorite moments from the show while you held a LEGO built coffee mug or sat on the iconic couch. We were fortunate to have the time and resources to pour a lot of detail into the project and I was very happy with the results.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I guess the best way to answer this question is to talk about my favorite LEGO set as a kid. SET 6988 Alpha Centauri Outpost was this amazing LEGO space set that included a spaceship, landing pad and moonbase. I loved that set and played with it constantly. I would destroy it and rebuild constantly! I did this so many times that I could rebuild the entire set from memory!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brandongriffith.com
- Instagram: @brandongriffithart
- Twitter: @brandongriffithart
- Other: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brandongriffith
