Build It and They Will Come

Graeme Dymond made every kid’s dream a reality by building a life-sized house out of toy bricks – the largest structure of its kind in Canada, he says.

Last year, Dymond (BA 2006 VIC) – also known as Brick Man Graeme – was approached by Habitat for Humanity to design this 200-square-foot-plus structure for their Brick to Brick campaign. The house, made of almost 37,000 Mega Bloks, was displayed at the Interior Design Show in Toronto in January. “People were deciding on luxuries like granite or marble countertops,” says Dymond. “But this was a reminder that there are people out there deciding between having food on the table or heat.”

Many assume that Dymond – who was a master model builder at the Legoland Discovery Centre in Toronto before becoming a freelance brick artist – has an engineering or architecture background. But like his creations, this anthropology grad proves that anything is possible if you’re imaginative. Dymond has designed everything from a giant frog used to promote an event at High Park to two spaceships – each slightly smaller than a fridge – honouring Star Trek’s 50th anniversary for a toy convention. “Toy bricks are like words,” says Dymond, referencing his training in linguistics and semiotics, “and when you put them together, the final product becomes the story.”