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.
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
