Art Technician Joe hoping Lego will sell his York College-inspired 'Workshop in a Toolbox' set

Joe submitted his impressive model to Lego Ideas – where designs are considered for mass production – in March.

Many of the 18 workshops, studios and chillout rooms in Joe’s toolbox are inspired by his current job at York College as an Art & Design Technician and Learning Assistant and by his time here as a student.   

Included are a welding booth, pottery studio and jewellery workshop, woodwork bay, along with a reading area, tuck shop, kitchen and toilets.

The toolbox quickly surpassed the 1,000 online supporter mark to move beyond the first stage of the Lego Ideas process.  

Joe now has just over a year to meet the next target of 5,000 and, if he then goes on to receive a 10,000-strong backing from the public within six months, his work will be considered at Lego’s Danish headquarters for manufacturing.

On that prospect, an excited Joe admitted: “I’ve been building Lego for as long as I can remember and loved it as a kid, so to become a Lego designer would be a dream come true. They release two or three Lego Ideas sets a year so, every six months or so, they’ll review all the ones that have gathered 10,000 supporters and a small selection of those then make the cut.

“You get a small percentage of the profits and, if it did get on the shelves and I made a bit of money out of it, that would be cool. But, just for other people to get joy out of having it themselves as well, would be nice.” 

Previously, Joe’s creative talents have seen him produce props, puppets and part of the set for theatre performances of Little Shop of Horrors. 

Unlike many Lego Ideas candidates who submit digital designs using CAD software, Joe chose to physically build his model at York Hackspace – a creative hub in Redeness Street that was set up by his sibling for members of the public to meet up, work on projects and share their creative ideas.

“I think the toolbox probably took me two or three months in total, because I had to buy pieces in as well,” he explained. “It cost me about £200 to make but, I thought if I wanted to submit it for Lego Ideas, I wanted to get it right and it was worth spending the money and time on it.”

That expenditure appears to have been justified by the public reaction both in person and online, with the toolbox receiving close to 200 positive comments on the Lego Ideas website.

“It feels really good to see the positive comments and a lot of them are from people who I have met at Lego events, who say they saw it at the Doncaster Dome or in Sunderland,” he enthused. “It’s nice that they’ve gone back home and taken the time to support it and quite a few forward it on and ask other people to support it as well.”

Joe completed a 3D Design Crafts Level 3 course as a teenager at College before progressing on to degree-level study and then landed a job at a high school, but is now enjoying working alongside many of his former tutors following his return to Campus in a teaching capacity.

“It’s nice being around creative people and the staff are great here,” he declared. “I contacted (Creative Assistant Director) Rob (Baxter) and (Art & Design Curriculum Standards Manager) Phil (Simpson) to see if they might have anything for me because I knew I would like being here.”

Click below to view Joe's promo video for his 'Workshop in a Toolbox'...

The bulk of Joe’s work is with Art & Design Foundation students, whose shoes he was in not too long ago himself.

“One of the routes you can choose on the course is Interior Architecture and I chose my course because I wanted to do Architecture at uni, but I didn’t want to do any more exams,” he explained. “So, I looked at what could be useful that wasn’t A Levels to get me into Architecture. 

“I read all about the course and liked what I saw of the workshops at an Open Event. I was interested in model making for architecture as well, so to be able to do 3D stuff was great. 

“We did six projects over the two years and I tried to tailor those towards architecture but, having the exposure to all the different metalwork, woodwork and ceramic spaces, unlocked quite a lot of different creative mediums for me.”

Joe is also considering running adult courses at College in Architectural Model Making and Pyrography (wood burning) - another one of his hobbies.

He has no plans to pack away his Lego anytime soon, though, with many other projects either in progress or in the pipeline.

“Basically, I want to make everything I see out of Lego!” he laughed. “I’ve done a Rock Climbing Wall recently and have been working on a city street layout for years

“I have lots of ideas that get put on a shelf in my mind for a while and others that I’ve had on the go for years and years. The reason I did a city scene is because that’s the kind of thing I’d have wanted as a kid. 

“You see lots of Star Wars stuff, which is cool for people interested in that, but all I want to see is everyday life in Lego. When you’re a kid of a certain height and you’re at a Lego event and the buildings are above you, it looks incredible and it’s always nice when I see that wonder.

“I loved the police stations when I was their age. There was one around 2007 that was quite big and had lots of stuff in it.

“It was probably the first proper set I got and sent me on an expensive trajectory for the rest of my life, although I try not to spend much money on big sets for myself. There are plenty that I’ve missed out on that I would have wanted, but it’s been mainly a case of birthday and Christmas presents and people seem less interested in buying me Lego as I get older for some reason! 

“I’m also lucky I haven’t got too invested in collecting a particular range, because that could get expensive.”

Should Joe’s toolbox become available in the shops, though, it might just become a collectors’ item. 

“One of the best investments you can make is buying a Lego set, not touching it and, then, selling it on in a few years when it has been discontinued,” he pointed out. “Sometimes, you can make hundreds and hundreds more than the original price.”

Can you help Joe reach 10,000 supporters for his toolbox?

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Discover more about Joe's Lego creations on his brickin'it YouTube channel here and Instagram page here