Meet Ben Pitchford, builder of the 120,000-piece Lego Rivendell

at 6:13 am by - April 22, 20156:13 am by Demosthenes

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A little while back, we featured a story on a 120,000 piece Lego replica of Weta’s rendition of Peter Jackson’s Rivendell from The Hobbit.

Here, the designer and builder — Ben Pitchford — chats with us about his enormous creation, and how Lego has since asked him to submit a smaller, potentially commerciable, version to their Lego Ideas site. (If you’d like to see it become a reality — it needs 10,000 supporters to move to the next stage and is already almost halfway there — then head over to Ben’s page on Lego Ideas and add your backing.)

Tell us a bit about yourself. The cliff notes version, if you like!

Ben P: I’m a big fan of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books and movies. I also enjoy building LEGO with my kids and as a creative outlet after work.

How long have you been building with LEGO, and what inspired you to start doing it seriously?

Ben P: Like most LEGO fans I began building at a young age until my early teens and got back into it three years ago (before my oldest kid turned two). After discovering websites like Mocpages and The Brother’s Brick I realized the potential for building custom models instead of following the instructions on store bought sets.