It’s not every day that a children’s toy becomes a design icon but in the case of LEGO’s minifigure, those tiny plastic male and female figurines that animate (in an inanimate sort of way) children’s building block creations the world over, icon status seems oddly fitting.
Click here to see a selection of minifigure milestones.
2008 marks the minifigure’s thirtieth year in production - an impressive milestone in design as much as business, considering that the basic look of the figurine has remained virtually unchanged since its inception - a body, three LEGO bricks long, beneath a head, one brick high, with that mini plastic toupee clipped on top.
When you consider that an astonishing seven LEGO sets are sold around the world every second, it’s no surprise that the miniature builders, firemen, cops, and nurses (as well as ’celebrity’ guest figures including Darth Vader and Indiana Jones) have become so ubiquitous - over four billion are scattered around the globe. If they ever decided to form their own autonomous state it’d be more populous than India and China combined. Now there’s a scary thought.
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We go back to the 1980s with Tolman’s epic hot-hatch restmod Peugeot 205 GTITolman Engineering has transformed the terrific Peugeot 205 GTI into a robust, pocket-sized performance classic
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Design makes a welcome return to the Dakar Biennale, sounding a clarion call to Africa’s new creative generationThe Dakar Biennale 2024 (7 November – 7 December) includes design for the first time in 20 years; here are four designers to look out for and what the event means to them
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Hot metal: why shiny tableware is a holy grail of hostingFrom a silvery modernist coffee pot to a perfectly poised stainless-steel candleholder, bring glimmer to dinner with shiny metal tableware
