EGN NEWS DESK
Arnaud Gaudillat, a historical past teacher in France, recalled bursting into tears as he watched tv protection of flames tearing by means of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in 2019. “We couldn’t do something however simply watch it burn,” he mentioned.
Now, 5 years later, as a whole lot of architects, engineers and metalworkers race to complete rebuilding the cathedral’s roof coverings and electrical cabling by the top of the 12 months, Mr. Gaudillat is not going to be sitting on the sidelines. He might be setting up his personal Notre-Dame. One made out of 4,383 Lego items.
Lego, the most important toy firm on the planet, on Saturday launched a mannequin of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, full with rose home windows, bell towers and a central spire surrounded by statues. The set, designed for adults, might be a part of the corporate’s assortment of units based mostly on architectural feats, together with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and his Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
“I simply need to have this lovely factor in my home,” Mr. Gaudillat, 25, mentioned of the Notre-Dame set. He began constructing intricate Lego units just a few years in the past and have become hooked.
The Danish toy firm is greatest recognized for its colourful play units for youngsters, together with its best-selling animal units, practice units and Harry Potter-themed units. But since 2020, when Lego began a brand new class of toys marketed for individuals ages 18 and over, the corporate has doubled the dimensions of its vary focusing on adults. About 20 p.c of the corporate’s units on the market are meant for grownup followers of Legos, generally known as AFOLs.
The Notre-Dame set, which sells for $229.99, is gaining consideration for its design and since it’s the first spiritual construction that the corporate has launched in 67 years, in response to Lego’s official historian.
Thomas Lajon, a screenwriter and director in Paris, mentioned he wished to purchase the Lego Notre-Dame due to how essential the actual cathedral, a jewel of medieval Gothic structure, is to him.
“It’s a second to reconnect with the cathedral by going there or rebuilding it with Lego bricks,” mentioned Mr. Lajon, 28, who designed the Orient Express Lego mannequin by means of an organization program that solicits design ideas from fan bases.
Construction of the (actual) Cathedral of Notre-Dame started in 1163, in the course of the reign of King Louis VII, and was accomplished in 1345. During the French Revolution within the 1790s, a mob decapitated statues of kings at Notre-Dame, and the cathedral fell right into a state of disrepair.
Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” highlighted the state of the cathedral and spurred momentum for its renovation, which came about from 1844 to 1864. The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc designed and added a spire.
Genevieve Capa Cruz, the pinnacle of product for adults on the Lego Group, mentioned in an interview that the corporate’s base of grownup Lego followers had grown over current years, significantly amongst what she described as adults with high-pressure jobs who see constructing Legos as a approach to unwind.
The firm is making an attempt to reframe enjoying with Legos as “a official leisure-time exercise” for adults, she mentioned. “The identical approach you’d make investments money and time in making ceramic bowls.”
Themes that resonate with adults embody structure, flowers and films, such “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars,” she mentioned. Adult Lego followers are essential for the corporate not solely as a result of their units are dearer — the Star Wars Millennium Falcon mannequin prices $850 — however as a result of they have an inclination to additionally purchase Lego items for youngsters, she mentioned.
Lego reported a 4 p.c improve in gross sales final 12 months, at the same time as different toy firms like Mattel and Hasbro noticed a decline. Against that backdrop, Lego plans to open at the very least 100 extra shops within the subsequent 10 months, Chief Executive Niels B. Christiansen mentioned in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Sonia Hudson, an intensive care physician at a hospital exterior London, mentioned she plans on shopping for two of the Notre-Dame Lego units. She’ll construct one to show in her front room, and the opposite she’ll purchase for its bricks, so as to add to her assortment of about 500,000, which she makes use of to create her personal designs.
“I don’t see Lego as a toy,” mentioned Dr. Hudson, 50. “I see it as a constructing medium. I might construct with wooden, I might construct with clay, but when I bought it improper I’d have to begin another time.”
Rok Zgalin Kobe, the Lego designer who created the Notre-Dame set, mentioned he designed the cathedral in order that customers must assemble it in the identical levels by which the actual cathedral was constructed, moderately than from the underside up, tracing almost 900 years of historical past.
“Once you full it, you’ll be able to truly look by means of the entrance door,” he mentioned. “You get the sense of the house, the sense of splendor that comes with it.”
The technique of designing the set concerned experimentation, requiring each day journeys to a room inside the firm’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark, that incorporates variations of all Lego bricks accessible for creating new tasks.
Like Ms. Hudson, the physician who makes use of Legos to unwind, Gordon Finlay, 62, picked Legos again up once more after not enjoying with them for an extended stretch. He and different Lego followers seek advice from that interval, between when individuals cease enjoying with Legos as youngsters and after they rediscover them as adults, as “the darkish age.”
Mr. Finlay, who lives exterior Glasgow, mentioned he plans to construct Lego’s Notre-Dame subsequent month, simply earlier than 15 million vacationers are anticipated to go to Paris for the Olympics.
