From the Bronx to the Brick

LEGO® Story # 33

A rising star in the LEGO®-sphere is about to Super Nova! Her name is Mati Stack. Her LEGO® journey began at the age of seven when her “papi”(Spanish for father) gifted her first LEGO® set.

She hails from the Bronx, in New York City and is of Puerto Rican descent, just like “JLO from the block,” and is affectionately our LEGO® JLO from the “Brick” (pun intended). Even more intriguing about Mati is she attended the prestigious Aviation High School in New York City, where she learned technical skills, including the building of aircraft out of wood and metal structures.

Photo submitted by: Mati Stack

She learned to work with her hands, and building is now simply an intuitive skill for her. Mati is a lifelong Star Wars fan. And in 2015 she was inducted back into the LEGO®-sphere through the Star Wars micro sets. She became infatuated with the ability to build using LEGO® bricks. Then, in 2016, she attended her first LEGO® convention, where she was introduced to artists and artwork using LEGO® as the creative canvas.

Influenced by these artists, she repeatedly attended more conventions as a novice artist herself. At the premiere of LEGO® Masters she connected with a few contestants, and her passion blossomed.

She became an exhibitor at conventions and immersed herself into making LEGO® art and tryout for the LEGO® master show as well. Her LEGO® building team is affectionately named the “Puerto Brickans,” paying homage to her own cultural heritage. Mati and her daughter are the creative power house of this team. They made it as far as alternates and strive to appear in the LEGO® show. She received commissions to build LEGO® art pieces for wealthy clients in the past two years and was encouraged to display her works in a studio. Her LEGO® passion filled every part of her life.

Photo submitted by: Mati Stack

While spending weekends creating LEGO® art with her granddaughter, she saw that something more was happening: They created art and icons of the time they spent together and served as a memory of the smiles and laughter they shared together. That’s when her concept of building friendships and memories with LEGO® bricks was born. She then launched the “Brick Cre8” concept and business model.

Mati Stack – Florida, USA


Find out more about Mati’s new venture, Brick Create:

Instagram: @brickcre8

Facebook: Brick Create


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我的複古樂高小鎮

LEGO® Story # 21

Chinese version:

經過多個月既努力,儲左幾十年既舊SET終於都可以以城市形態再一次重現眼前。😭😭😭 數數手指對上一次砌個LEGO® town出黎已經係26年前中學時代了。砌呢個城最大嘅挑戰係點樣利用有限嘅空間而有效地display到最多嘅set出嚟,而出到嚟又唔會有迫夾嘅感覺。雖然實際動工砌前已經用digital方法 plan 咗layout但係砌到出嚟睇又係另一回事,所以其實layout更動都改咗三次。而且display出嚟更加要顧及觀賞/影相角度要有層次感盡量要收埋建築物嘅背面同唔好重疊建築物。🏠🏘⛰(避免前高樓遮住後矮樓)基於土地問題關係我經過嚴選後已經放棄左好多set show唔到出黎只能display到1/3既vintage set左右,所以重複的建築物如消防局LEGO®總出過四間咁只能活一間了!有部分車仔我想放但係唔夠路面😢。希望不久既將來可以再砌大D令到個城更加豐富啦。🥰 其實我作為一個玩LEGO®數十載嘅fans可以喺香港呢個彈丸之地砌到呢個能夠媲美外國規模嘅城市,真的滿足了!謝謝觀賞🙏🏻尺寸:366cm X 228cm 32×32底板數: 15×8塊盒裝使用數量:150盒以上最舊既set: 376 House with Garden (1978)最新既set: 10219 Maersk train(2011)最細既set: 6606 Road Repair Set (1983)最大既set: 6399-Airport Shuttle (1990)

English version:

A Nostalgic Journey: Building a Classic LEGO® Town

After a few months of hard work, I finally finished building a LEGO® town with some of my lovely vintage sets that I have collected in the past 40 years. The previous time I built a LEGO® town was 26 years ago, when I was in high school.

Photo credit: Jerry Hung

A few more details about my LEGO® vintage town:

Size: 366cm X 228cm. 32×32 base plate number: 15×8

Number of box-sets used: above 150!

Oldest set used: 376 House with Garden (1978).

Newest set used: 10219 Maersk train (2011).

Smallest set used: 6606 Road Repair Set (1983).

Largest set used : 6399 Airport Shuttle (1990).

I tried to make it look like the old school LEGO® catalogs. Most sets in this town (there are 150 of them) were produced between the 80’s – 90’s. I wanted to build a LEGO® town that only had vintage sets, no modern city or modular buildings at all. Due to limited space, I only can display about 1/3 of my vintage sets collection. I hope I can expand my town in the near future. Thanks for reading!

Jerry Hung – Hong Kong

My favorite LEGO® MOC

LEGO Story #15 – Guy Gabizon

For those of you that don’t know what is a LEGO® MOC, it stands for My Own Creation.

Normally you can buy LEGO® sets in a box with instructions. A MOC is something that a fan like  me designs and then publishes the instructions for other LEGO® Fans to build, on sites like Rebrickable

Photo credit: Guy Gabizon

I love designing and sharing MOC’s with the world. I design them because I can really use my creativity and build something out of my own imagination. And I have built already more than 500 of them!

My favorite one is the Dessert Village one. I built it from 12 different MOC’s, with 3957 pieces. It took me more than one month to build but at the end I was really happy with it. 

If you want to see more of my creations, you can check my website – https://htbi-moc.com/. I love to see when a fellow fan builds one of my MOC’s – and I am looking forward to myself building creations from others!

Guy Gabizon – Israel

Os LEGO® que eu montava com o meu pai

LEGO® Story #12

Eu e o meu pai sempre fomos os melhores amigos e os melhores companheiros de brincadeiras.

Das memórias mais felizes que tenho foi num Natal em que os meus pais fizeram um esforço enorme para me dar uma coleção de LEGO® que eu adorava – uma casa de família repleta de flores. Ainda hoje recordo com carinho a paciência que o meu pai tinha para me ajudar a montar as flores, naquela estrutura verde tão pequenina que as minhas mãos pequenas e desengonçadas não conseguiam segurar.

Photo Credit: CMateus

Tenho os meus LEGO® guardados para que um dia possa ajudar uma criança minha a montar cada um deles de novo.

CMateus – Lisbon, Portugal