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Workin CT: Inside the mind of a LEGO Master Builder

When Pete Donner started at LEGO twenty years ago, his dream was to be a Master Builder. Two decades later, he is one, putting his creativity to the test every ...

ENFIELD, Conn. — When Pete Donner started at LEGO twenty years ago, his dream was to be a Master Builder. Two decades later, he is one, putting his creativity to the test every day to make masterpieces like Luke Skywalker from Star Wars Episode 7.

Luke is made up of about 25,000 to 30,000 bricks and took hundreds of hours to make with builders crafting it from the computer program to what you see standing here.

“On all projects, it’s kind of a meeting of the minds. We really can divide and conquer just about any phase of the process. So I could be designing one day, building the next day. It’s not uncommon that we might get involved in the steel engineering along with one of the other designers,” said Peter Donner.

“One of my favorite things to recreate out of LEGOs are animals, and a few years ago, we did a show for Australia and we recreated the world’s largest Great White Shark, and that is one of the most amazing models I’ve ever seen out of brick,” he added.

Although the Thor and the Flash models, which just debuted at Comicon with Luke Skywalker, are also pretty impressive.

“It’s really amazing to see when we’re building these life-size models that are on displays for kids and parents, they’re actually being designed here in Enfield, so it’s really like Santa’s workshop. How people imagine it is to work at LEGO is happening right here,” said Amanda Madore, who is the LEGO Senior Brand Relations Manager.

And much like Santa’s workshop, the LEGO workshop keeps cranking out new sets like the one for the upcoming LEGO Ninjago movie that’s coming out in September.

“We know kids now a days have a lot to keep themselves occupied with, so it’s really part of the LEGO business to stay relevant to introduce things that are digital, to introduce things that are based on new movies. There really is about 350 new products a year,” said Madore.

Letting the Master Builders like Pete get creative and imagining different ways to reinvent the LEGO system with new designs and shapes that sometimes take them to the past.

“One of the best parts about being a LEGO Master Builder is every day I get to come in and reintroduce myself to who I was as a child. I get to do some of the great toys I grew up with, some of the great cartoons and themes that I’ve been familiar with for over a decade on a day-to-day basis. It’s really great,” said Donner.

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