Having a (LEGO) conversation with... Maria Kalaoglou (Mind the Brick) and George Patelis (Patgeo313)

 

Today I bring you not one, but two special guests from Greece! Does the names Maria Kalaoglou (Mind the Brick) and George Patelis (Patgeo313) sound familiar to you? And what if I told you they are the Designers of one of the current projects on LEGO Ideas waiting for approval, intitled “LEGOLAND Central Station”?

Yes, there were 2 fans designing this project and the best part is…they live 800 km apart. How was that possible? Let’s find out in the next questions.

But first, I need to say that this was one of the most interesting and fun interviews I had the chance to do for Play Well Portugal and it was a real pleasure knowing and talking to the two talented fans. And I need to apologize because this interview took almost 2 months to be published (and I have a few others waiting to be posted as well), and I will promise to wrap it up in the next weeks.

If you also want to be featured on our page, contact us via Facebook or send an email to playwell.pt@gmail.com

 

1-Tell us a little about yourself, your name, age, what do you do, and how long have you been a fan of LEGO?

MK - My name is Maria Kalaoglou, aka Mind the Brick, I’m 43 years old and I have been a fan of LEGO for over 35 years.

GP -My name is George Patelis and I am 37 years old. I am currently employed as an accountant and business consultant, and I have been fan of LEGO since my childhood.

 

2- What is your first LEGO memory? Was LEGO part of your life while growing up or was it just an occasional thing?

 MK - While I was growing up, I did not have my own LEGO, but since my neighbours had a decent collection,I would visit them every afternoon and play with it for hours!

 GP - My first LEGO memory is playing with the DUPLO set No. 2651: Circus Artists and Elephant. As long as I can remember, there was always some LEGO involved in my life. Even on my dark ages, I was also playing with what I already had in my possession, every once and a while.

 

Set 2651 - Circus Artists and Elephant

3- Did you have a dark age? Usually, lots of adults go through one in their adolescence, only returning to the hobby when they are already financially independent. If so, what happened for you to start collecting and building with LEGO again?

MK - My dark ages ended in 2017, when on Christmas day, I met with my old friends who had bought the 42055: Bucket Wheel Excavator and we got to build it together. That was what got me hooked and made me start collecting LEGO from that day onwards.

Set 42055 Bucket Wheel Escavator

GP - Of course, I am among most of us who had a dark age, but as I already told you, I was lucky enough to keep all my childhood LEGO with me, and even play with it from time to time, when I was feeling nostalgic. The set that took me out of my dark ages, was the emblematic Emerald Night when by chance I saw it released as a set.

Set 10194 - Emerald Night

 

4 – I don’t know if you remember, but in the 80’s and 90’s, there were some LEGO Catalogues made specifically for Greece, Portugal and Spain, containing those 3 languages. How hard was it to get LEGO back then? Did you have it in most toy stores or was it something kind of rare to find? 

MK - I really can’t remember far back then, I’m sure George will have a better memory regarding that than I do...

GP - I can only talk for the 90’s as during the 80’s I was quite small. I remember that just before Christmas holidays, my parents brought those catalogues to me and my brother to choose the presents that Santa Claus would "bring" us. We were also giving “him” a variety of sets to choose for us, depending on “his” budget. Apart from that, as LEGO was more a “premium” child’s toy, at that time it was difficult for us, as kids, to purchase. Of course, me and my brother were visiting the local toy stores that were selling LEGO, to check on the new releases and even buy some small sets with our pocket money, but that was mainly it.

 

 1990 LEGO Catalogue, in Spanish, Portuguese and Greek

5 - Can you tell us and give us an example of your constructive process? Do you plan ahead, building first on the computer, or do you prefer to build with physical LEGO parts?

MK - Having studied jewellery design, the process I follow is very similar. I first get an idea, and then I start researching, to decide how I want it to look. After some brainstorming takes place, I hit the studio app, where the concept starts to gain form. Sometimes I test it by building with physical elements to make sure things work as planned. There are also times where I just build freely without any idea whatsoever, without knowing where that is going to lead me too. I enjoy both processes equally!

GP - Before Covid-19 quarantine, I was mainly building with physical parts without planning  my creation ahead, just building with try and error. This changed during Covid-19 quarantine as the purchase of physical parts was not an option, so I turned into the digital designing of my models.

Maria working on her LEGO models

 

6- Your recent MOC, LEGOLAND Central Station, was on LEGO Ideas and it reached the 10.000 support quite fast! Congratulations on that! Something that most of the fans do not know, is that this project was actually built by two fans, living 800 km apart. How did you come up with this? Can you tell us a bit more about it, who was building which part and how did you decide the details of the MOC? Did you ever disagree on a specific detail for example?

 MK - First of all, thank you so much for your kind words! Well, it was something that we both, I believe, had second thoughts… if the “how’s and why’s” of this project were going to work. It was also the first time I did such collaboration, since George and I had no clue of what the final design was going to look like! Our goal was one, to create a design that most LEGO enthusiasts would want to add to their city set-ups. The process that worked for us, was to simply exchange a single studio file, on which one of us would work at a time and then share it with the other and so on! So, for example we would work on the entrance doors, and we would both add or remove elements. Of course, there were disagreements as our building aesthetics tend to differ, but we managed to work that out without any big fuss simply by stepping back for the overall good of the project!

GP - Thank you so much! Yes, our project reached quite fast the 10.000 milestone. It was done within 45 days, which was stunning for us.

Both me and Maria are huge fans of trains, so we had in our mind to make a creation such as this one, at some point. Our collaboration was decided when we met in person during Thessaloniki ComicCon back in September 2022. Fortunately, our view of things and way of thinking coincide to a large extent, which made this collaboration possible.

This collaboration, like all of them, was based on mutual concessions. We both had our ideas for each part of the station but thinking about the best possible result for our creation, we decided piece by piece what would be best visually and how each of our ideas would tie in with the rest of the station.

LEGOLAND Central Station - LEGO Ideas Project

7 – Where do you usually get the LEGO elements for your MOCs? Do you use the ones that you already have, or do you buy them specifically for that creation?

MK - Both actually! My spare brick collection has grown over the years, but I always need to order specific elements online.

GP - Until a LEGO Certified store was opened in Thessaloniki, which is close to me, I was buying the needed LEGO elements online through Bricklink, Brickowl and even from eBay. Now, from time to time, when I visit Thessaloniki, I pay a visit to their brick wall to see if any of the available elements fits my interests. Apart from that, of course, I try as much as I can to build with the LEGO that I already have in my possession. However though, in case I have something specific in my mind that I want to create, I will look and buy the part that I need so that I can achieve the best possible result.

 

8 - Do you also collect LEGO? If yes, what themes do you like the most?

MK - I do collect! Nowadays I mostly collect Ideas and Icons.

GP - I do collect LEGO. I like space themed sets, modular, architecture and of course, trains.

 

9 - What set or theme most influences you, as a fan of LEGO? Is there a theme that you would like LEGO to produce?

MK - I think it is a bit obvious! Adult Train sets 😊

GP - I love how LEGO building techniques are used to create the Architecture series sets. Most of the designs are brilliant.

 

10 – If you had the chance to build whatever you want in LEGO, regardless of weight and size, what would you do?

MK - I would probably go for a sculpture!

GP - I haven’t thought of that to be honest. My first creation, after coming out of my dark ages, was the Destiny Starship from the Stargate Universe franchise, which consists of over 30,000 pieces, 2.20 meters long, 1.75 meters wide and weighs more than 30 kilograms. After that, I think I can build anything as long as I want to, having the necessary budget of course.

Now...that's  huuuuuuge ship!

 

11-Do you have a favourite LEGO builder?

MK - There are many fan designers that I look up too, this list is long! My friend Patgeo, whom I admire for his persistence. My dearest friend Delusion Brick with whom I’ve shared many Lego Ideas moments. Our LEGO RLUG Ambassador GunmanBricks, who was the first to encourage me to upload my designs on the Lego Ideas platform and a superb “free” MOC designer. My dearest Brickester who I met through the platform, and I look to for advice and guidance sometimes! And last but not least, Bricky_Brick and Brick Dangerous.

GP - There are a lot of gifted builders out there. I haven’t got anyone favourite in particular, but I admire a lot the work of my LUG ambassador, George aka Gunman (GunmanBricks), and of course the creations of Maria aka Mind the Brick

 

12- Are you currently working on a LEGO project (not necessarily building)? If yes, can you tell us about it?
(Meanwhile, one of Maria's projects, The Old Train Engine Shed, has been approved as one of the Bricklink Designer Programs Round 1 projects who will turn into a LEGO set in 2024 - Congratulations)

MK - I have been working on and off on several projects. An Asian oriented diorama, some small MOCs that I need to get extra bricks to finish and a couple Ideas projects which are still in the back of my head and I’m still just thinking about them.

GP - Unfortunately, not at the moment, since the demands of my job do not allow me to do so, I cannot work with any project that I have in mind.

The Old Train Engine Shed

 

13 – How is your LEGO “workshop”/exhibition space?

MK - My workshop is always messy... Sets that I build, sets to part out, bricks in boxes waiting to be organized! I wish I had more time to have a proper studio!

GP - I have a small room with a desk, which also serves as a storage room, with many shelves where I display my creations or the rest of the sets I own.

 

14 – Do you have an account on social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, etc.), where you share your constructions or collections?

MK - I share my builds mostly on my Facebook page (Mind the Brick) and on Instagram (mind_the_brick).

GP - Yes, you can find me on Instagram as Patgeo313  and in Flickr as George Patelis.

 

15– Are you part of any LUG? What is your opinion about them? 

MK - I’m a member of the RLUG thebrick.gr and I love it! All members are my friends and I’m happy to call them my “extended family”!

GP - Yes, I am part of the RLUG thebrick.gr, which is based in Thessaloniki but has members all over Greece and Cyprus. I am fortuned enough to be a member of our LUG as we have a very co-operative spirit, we help each other and talk to each other all the time, which also helped us a lot during the Covid-19 quarantine as even though we were apart and far from each other, we bonded even more.

 

16 – Do you like or have you tried to build in group or community projects? Or do you prefer to build alone?

MK - I haven’t built in group or community project yet to be honest, only this project with George.

GP - Working with Maria was my first collaboration. Seeing that it went so well, I'll definitely try it again sometime.

17- What does your family and friends think about your hobby? Do they support you or still say it's a kid’s thing?

MK - Truth to be told, some don’t understand at all what I do! And indeed think that LEGO is only for children! But those who know, support me and encourage me to go on!

GP - Initially, as you mention, my hobby was treated as a children's game, for which I was too old to play with. But over time, seeing my creations, I believe that they have come to terms with the idea, and they are already supporting me.

 

18 - Have you participated in a LEGO event or a fan exhibition?

MK - My most recent LEGO event participation was at The Comic Con 6, last September.

GP - Yes, I have participated in our RLUGs exhibitions throughout the years, in Thessaloniki ComicCon as well (with our LUG) and I also participated in BrickCon 2020 which was held online, as an exhibitor.

 

19 – Have you been to the LEGO capital, Billund?

MK - No, not yet... But I’m sure that one day I will be able to make the trip

GP -Unfortunately, I haven’t been there yet, but I would love to go at some point.

20- How do you see yourself in this hobby in 10 years? 

MK -I have really no Idea whatsoever... I can only hope to be able to continue having fun building and creating my ideas!

GP -I wish and hope that I will continue to make MOCs that express myself and that make those who sees it, happy.

 

Thank you so much Maria and George, good luck with your projects and dreams, and I hope to continue to see many new models made by the two of you, in collaboration or individually!