Beautiful LEGO

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Why LEGO? We have many reasons. LEGO is the

only medium we know of that can be completely

reused with no loss in function. This is a great

advan tage to us and is of primary importance. In

addition, the result of your work is almost imme-

diate, and changes can be made at any time. To

build, you don’t need much: just a few bricks, a

light, a table, and a chair—although, in our case,

we often build on a bed!

Being able to physically touch the model and ob-

serve your progress carefully, choosing the next

piece—these are the joys that keep us inspired to

imagine new constructions.

Could you tell us a little about yourselves?

We are brothers: Ramón is the younger and Ama-

dor, the elder. We come from Albacete, Spain, a

little city between Madrid and Valencia. Until re-

cently, we lived together. Now, our lives are sepa-

rate due to jobs, family, and such. We have always

had hobbies we could share, despite our age dif-

ference: video games, comics, music, movies, and

of course, LEGO.

How long have you been building? Did you both

catch the LEGO bug simultaneously?

We began building as children and then

stopped during our university years (the famous

DarkAge) only to restart the hobby again seven

or eight years after graduating. Girlfriends and

LEGO were a strange combination.

Although we began building again at the same

time, during those first years, we didn’t work

together on the same models. Our interests,

techniques, and styles were different. But video

games changed everything! Our first collabora-

tive build was an homage to the classic arcade

game Operation Wolf. (LEGO is perfect for mix-

ing hobbies!)

Your works are often so intricate. It is hard to

imagine how two people can collaborate, partic-

ularly separated by distance. How does this work

for you? Do you build separately and then meet

to fit parts together? How often might you meet?

We always say that four eyes can see better than

two (though that isn’t always true).

Each build is a bit different. Sometimes, one of

us shapes the model’s general outlines, and the

other handles the details. Other times, when the

size of the model allows it, we work on different

parts. For example, in the Iron Man model, we

were able to build the head and the feet at the

same time.

Ramón and Amador Alfaro Marcilla

3(opposite) Headphones 2007 (above) Minimoog 2011

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5The Doll 2008

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Today, we live apart (at a great distance), and as

you say, it’s very difficult. Before, we could build

together easily, but now it is absolutely necessary

to find new ways to collaborate. We try to meet

once per month. Playing with LEGO is a great ex-

cuse to get together. Because we have to travel

to meet, playing with LEGO becomes something

of an odyssey.

How long do you suppose some of your more in-

tricate pieces take?

The model that took the most time was The Doll.

We spent eight months on it, working three hours

per day—almost every day! So it took per haps

about 720 hours in total. But normally, we build

medium-sized models. Building cars, we spend

two or three weeks, depending on the details that

we want to introduce. And, there are exceptions.

For example, we are redesigning an old model.

We began more than a year ago, and we are just

finishing it now.

Do you do much planning before building? How

does that work? Do you each come up with a

basic approach and then pick the best before

starting? Do you sketch models first?

Yes, it’s absolutely necessary to do some plan-

ning before building. We watch movies, pore over

images from the Web, and sometimes even make

our own sketches to better understand a model

(comics and drawings are our passions too).

And it goes beyond the visual. For us, it is very

important to evoke the correct feeling; the mood

may be the most important aspect of a build. And

how do we do that? As we build, we talk about

our memories, share our thoughts about the

model, discuss the reasons why we’re building...

and all the while, we listen to music that we think

has some kind of connection to the model. Our

ears are as important as our eyes.