1. LEGOLOGY
Effects from a Lifetime of Directionless LEGO Building
Written By Andrew Kyrejko
This writing sample was the result of an open-ended exercise during a special topics
Anthropology course on sociocultural change theory in March of 2009. Please
excuse the patches of dense “anthro-speak.”
Task
Illuminate the initializer, catalyst, and developmental evolution of a
longstanding, now inherent aspect of your identity that has uniquely
influenced your approach to sociocultural morphology. While this
assignment requires conjecture, recollect to create a well-rounded brief
concluding with a succinctly crafted insight.
Initializer
For my father, organic thinking was one of his most coveted traditions.
An art teacher at a magnet high school in Newark, New Jersey, Mr.
Kyrejko was renowned by colleagues and former students for his
defiance of precondition and limit. Wally sought to continuously push
beyond the topical understanding of imagination and creativity that, in his
opinion, had begun to plague art programs; confining students and
faculty to a closeted, predetermined vein of mainstream expressionism.
Unwavering commitment to learning each craft, coupled with an
independently nurtured creative personality, would earn students high
grades but, more importantly, my fatherʼs respect. Wallyʼs teaching style
challenged students to uniquely peak his interest, accelerating their
departure from conventionalism and strict direction.
By the time I was six, my father had already been searching for ways to
inspire me and my eight year-old brother to make the same “leap.” While
David soon began to immerse himself in computer technology, I needed
a new medium outside of drawing and Micro Machines. That year, 1993,
Wally came home with a plastic chest packed with 5,000 Lego pieces.
Catalyst
At the core of my Lego collection are hundreds of one-quarter to two inch
long white, blue, black, red, and yellow blocks. These pieces are meant
to serve as key structural elements for larger builds. The remaining
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2. Legos are a diverse mix of angular, slim, flat, and clear pieces ideal for
providing extra stability and aesthetic detailing to the build. Uniting these
blocks are small, universally sized bumps and holes allowing each Lego
to connect and interlock with one another. Typically, Legos are sold in
box sets containing specific directions and pieces for creating pre-
established forms. From small Lego people to sailing ships nearing three
feet long, the Lego brand has become synonymous with childhood,
creativity, and learning.
Developmental Evolution
When those 5,000 Legoʼs first arrived I was already a builder. Like other
adventurous Kindergardeners, wooden blocks yielded cities, Tonka dump
trucks moved sand for walls or deep craters, and fleets of HotWheels
cars created the ideal superhighway or a simple storefront parking lot.
I had also been building with Duploʼs; larger, interlocking plastic blocks
designed for ages 1-5. Each of these mediums allowed me to lightly play
with imagination and dabble in creativity but they all lacked the ability to
transcend beyond their limitations as youth-specific toys. Apart from pre-
finished cars and trucks, wooden blocks were too heavy and, more
importantly, lacked interlocking mechanisms. The mediumʼs inflexibilities
made it impossible to create larger, structurally solid builds. Duploʼs, the
most analogous of the three to Legos, were meant to connect but the
blocksʼ uniformity and larger size were severely constricting. The small
scale of each Lego brick communicated a natural expectation to create
highly complex builds within an expansive, multidimensional space. Such
diversity and opportunity was unparalleled but my fatherʼs key to
expanding my abilities as an observer, thinker, and creator lay in his
adamant insistence that I build freely, without directions.
As years of constructing continued, I began to develop an intimate
understanding of my 5,000 Legos. I learned how to position connecting
pieces to create stronger interlocked groups, realized the support
required to maintain rigidity as the build grew, and was increasingly
conscious of how to redistribute smaller blocks throughout the build to
further specificity and intricacy. I began to coordinate color with structure
to bold details and translate more pronounced angles to enhance visual
presence. Through hundreds of Lego airplanes, yachts, submarines, and
starships, I honed my directionless design perspective by sensing the
weight distribution, proportion, dimension, and integrity of each build.
During construction or transport, my creations would sometimes
generate minor stress related breaks or completely crumble, allowing me
to study the source of the buildʼs fragility and fine-tune my approach for
the next project.
Throughout my 16 years with Legos, I passionately embraced my blank
canvas and worked to continuously evolve my methodology to keep pace
with the depth of my imagination. By compounding my experiences with
both successful and failed builds, I wholistically realized the ideology
behind the craft of Lego building. Coupling that knowledge with my
investigative nature produced an innovation-hungry personality attuned
to producing solidly constructed uniqueness.
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3. Insight
Today, I still maintain a three-foot long Lego starship made from some of
those 5,000 Legos my now retired father had given me in 1993. While its
design emulates the latest version of Star Trekʼs infamous starship
Enterprise, the imaginative progress of my creation is my own.
Whenever inclined, I lightly refine the build, discovering new design
combinations, retouching the color distribution, and rethinking my overall
approach. My commitment to meticulously and intelligently re-imagining
how I innovate defines the quality of my starships unique construction.
However, while it marks another build for which I have tremendous pride,
innovationʼs end is impossible. LEGOLOGY defines such an
understanding by embracing adventurism and welcoming the
limitlessness of evolution.
andrew@akyrejko.com
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