Questions
to Niels Milan Pedersen, LEGO Designer Interview and Photography by Megan Rothrock
Galidor concepts and packaging.
1. How long have you worked for The LEGO Group as a LEGO Designer? I have been a LEGO Designer for twenty-eight years. 2. Why did you want to be a LEGO Designer? Actually, I didn’t. I wanted to be an archeologist or a sailor of some sort, but a mere coincidence and some homemade lead toy-soldiers led me to Billund. I had in fact almost never played with LEGO as a child because my older brother didn’t want me to make the few bricks we had dirty, which I actually might have done! 3. What do you enjoy most about working as a LEGO Designer? That’s difficult to say, but the ‘brainstorming’ before and after the development of new elements are quite fun. Building new models, well, yes that’s fun too! And of course there are so many lovely and funny people involved that it is a sheer joy to go to work. Nowadays it is quite fun and a little odd to be told by new colleagues that their favorite toy as a child was in fact made by me! It makes me think a little!! 4. What themes (that you can tell us about) that you worked on are you most happy with? The old Castle and Pirate-ships from the eighties and nineties, but that might rather be for sentimental reasons and a developing lack of memory because there have been a lot of fun themes! 5. Are there any themes that you think could have been presented better? Indeed! Galidor (sigh!) I (and a few others) think this quite special theme was utterly lost because of a totally wrong sales strategy! The first Dino-theme also had a lot more potential then actually exploited!
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