I've been building and playing with LEGO toys my whole life. I was a total "LEGO maniac" when I was a kid, and LEGO toys were usually the only toys I ever asked for when my birthday would come around each year. I kept building LEGO models all through childhood and even into my teenage and adult years. My models slowly became more involved and elaborate as I got older, and eventually I started building LEGO models professionally. Now it's my full-time career.

I currently have over 3 million LEGO bricks in my studio. It's hard to say how many models I've built.... certainly hundreds, maybe even thousands throughout my whole life. In any given year, I might create a dozen or so commissioned pieces, a few dozen small gift-sized models, and lots of sculptural pieces simply for my own edification. When creating models for my books, I make hundreds more than are ever eventually published.

I go through about 350,000 to 450,000 LEGO pieces every year, and keep over 3 million on hand at any given time.