LEGO Masters Australia has returned for a highly awaited sixth season with none other than ‘The Brickman’ returning to judge the contestants on the beloved family-friendly reality television series.
The Brickman – real name, Ryan McNaught – had a high-flying career in the corporate sphere as a Chief Information Officer, however, he often felt unfulfilled in his job which lacked the creativity he craved.
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A huge LEGO fan since childhood, The Brickman began winning awards for his LEGO projects at the tender age of five. It wasn’t until he became a father himself (to twins who also love LEGO) that he rekindled his passion.
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When LEGO MINDSTORMS was released – a hardware and software platform for programmable robots based on LEGO bricks – the talented dad seized an opportunity to merge his professional skillset and personal pastime by developing a model of an Airbus A380 incorporating the LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics into physical building blocks.
In 2009, the Brickman’s creation won Best in Show at Melbourne’s “Brickvention”, and was later displayed at the LEGO Brickworld event in Chicago, USA.
The impressive construct caught the eye of a LEGO executive and McNaught was invited to become a LEGO-certified professional.
Six months later, Ryan became the only person in the Southern Hemisphere to be recognised as a certified LEGO builder.
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Today, he is involved with many LEGO company projects including building models for its offices around the world.
In 2010, McNaught launched his own Brickman business in Melbourne and now employs a team of passionate craftspeople who have built some of the world’s most detailed and challenging LEGO constructions such as life-sized cars and the tallest LEGO model in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Brickman team has gone on five global touring exhibitions and created hundreds of models for display in museums, galleries, and shopping centres.
Mostly recently, Brickman launched Jurassic World, the biggest LEGO brick exhibition in Australia with over 50 large-scale dinosaurs, props, scenes, and activities made from more than 6 million LEGO bricks
Adding to his impressive list of achievements, Ryan released Brickman’s Family Challenge Book which contains “30 amazing LEGO brick challenges for all ages and abilities.”
This was followed up by The Brick-tionary, the ultimate LEGO A-Z of creative builds and insider tips, and Brickman’s Big Book of Better Builds which contains “all the skills you need to become a LEGO Master.”
