‘When I landed at Dublin Airport, I was told Lego Master is not a real job’, says Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught

Mr McNaught, who goes by the nickname ‘Brickman’, is known for his appearances on the much-loved television series Lego Masters Australia, showing here on Channel 4.

He is in Dublin for Bricktionary, the interactive Lego experience with over 1,000,000 Lego bricks on display in the Theatre of Light, at Point Square in Dublin.

‘Brickman’ is excited to bring the exhibition to Dublin, even if his arrival caused a few puzzled looks at the airport.

“I’m very lucky, my job is to play with Lego, it’s a very cool job. Except when I landed at Dublin Airport, the guy at customs told me it wasn’t a real job, so I had to prove to him that’s what I do for a living. That’s kind of funny,” he said.

“Lego can be stressful sometimes, because I have deadlines. But in general, it’s playing with Lego, so it’s hard to get stressed.

“There’s a lot of mentally challenging processes you have to think about, how it’s going to hold together, how we’re going to move it around, how strong is it going to be, where are the potential weak spots.

“There’s a lot of thought that goes into it which is particularly good for the brain,” he added.

After a hugely successful worldwide tour in Australia, Asia and the US, Irish Lego fans are now the first lucky Europeans to have the opportunity to see Bricktionary.

The exhibition promises “a captivating blend of creativity, education, and immersive Lego experiences for visitors of all ages”.

It challenges visitors with six interactive build zones, features over 150 models from the bestselling book, as well as more famous models from Lego Masters Australia.

With International Women’s Day earlier this month, Mr McNaught admits “from my experience, girls are better at building Lego than boys”.

“At a young age in particular, girls seem to have more patience than boys,” he said.

“If you asked an eight-year-old girl to build a house for example, she’ll make sure all of the walls are the same colour, it has the same shape, it’ll be organised, it’ll look like a house.

“But if you ask an eight-year-old boy to make a house, there’ll be pirates living in it or a spaceship coming out the chimney.

“In Lego instruction books there’s no words. You don’t need a language. Lego bricks are the same all around the world. This exhibition was in China for example, and the Lego models were the exact same there.

“We’ve lots of cool Lego models based on a book I wrote. The last few days, we’ve had thousands of adults and kids come along to test out their Lego skills, learn a little bit about Lego and do some amazing Lego activities.

“My favourite piece in the whole exhibition is Mr Bean. I might be showing my age here, but I have him driving his car with Teddy in the driver’s seat, which took about a week and a half,” Mr McNaught added.

Bricktionary, the Interactive Lego Brick Exhibition, is running at the Theatre of Light, Point Square, until May 19