A Melbourne man has turned his passion for Lego into a multi-million dollar global business by transforming the way the construction toy is created.
Father-of-three Kenny Lee is obsessed with Lego and said his lightbulb moment came when he was arguing with his wife about the amount he was spending on his hobby.
“I was arguing with the wife because of the money I was spending on Lego and I figured to myself, ‘How can I make this into a business so that my expenditure on Lego is guilt-free?'” he said.
Lee thought that Lego could do with illumination.
“As soon as I put the flashing lights on the barber’s sign that’s when the spark moment was there and that was when I was like ‘I’m on to something’,” he said.
He started the business Light My Bricks in 2016 with $10,000 as his initial investment.
The company specialises in LED lighting kits that bring to life the assembled creations.
“A lighting system that lets customers enjoy while building Lego, that Lego set or it allows them to retrofit that Lego set essentially bringing the whole thing to life,” Lee said.
Light My Bricks is now sold around the world in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia and staffs 30 Lego aficionados.
“I’m working on the Adam West 66 Batmobile just starting it today and we’re lighting it up,” Brett McColl said.
With prices ranging from $30 to $300, turnover last year was a staggering $12 million and it’s not surprising that their customers are grownups.
“We’re the ones with the disposable income. We’re the ones who will build and display unlike kids who are building and destroying,” Lee said.
Matt Nardella’s serious “addiction” to Lego started when he stumbled upon Ninja Turtle Lego.
“I was like ‘I have to get them’, you know, it took me right back to my childhood… bought them built them and then one thing led to another and 11 years later I’m in that far deep now,” he said.
Legoland has taken over Nardella’s entire garage. He was excited to discover he could light them up.
“I was naturally freaked out and I was like ‘Yes, I found some and I think I bought five or six kits in one shot,” he said.
In fact, he was one of Lee’s first customers and clearly remains a solid one.
Nardella’s estimated spend on Lego and lighting totals between $60,000 and $70,000.
He devotes 25 to 30 hours a week to constructing this miniature world and his apprentice approves.
“I’m really proud of him because he did this and I was really shocked when I first came in here,” his son Zayden Nardella said.
Another light bulb moment for Lee was when he realised he could help with other passion projects, so he’s branching out from Lego to other toys, from robots to model cars.
“There are so many hobbies out there and you can light up literally anything and we’re excited to take that on,” he said.
It’s safe to say he definitely won that argument with his wife.
“I ultimately did and if you were to ask her how she feels she would probably say it was the only time she was wrong,” Lee said.
