Calgary lego fanatic lands dream job in Florida

It all started with a look.

Lego hobbyistEric MacCallumwas trying to convince his wife that it'd be a good ideato dedicate an entire room in their small apartment just tohis Lego exploits.

"She gave me the eye, and I said, 'Okay, well, I'm going to have to make a tiny little business out of this,'" he said.

He established a small studio in Calgary andset up a Facebook page and website. From therethings quickly exploded for the 2015 Silver Springs Lego Competition winner.

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"The orders just started rolling in, and I just accepted anything that came in," he said, in a phone interview from Florida.

From crafting favourite carsto sculpting the family catand castingLego-madebusts of people's heads,MacCallumhas done it all.

Calgary shop paves way to Florida job

MacCallum's small business in Calgary helped him forge the networks that would eventually lead him to his dream job.

Folks at theLegoland themepark in Carlsbad, Calif., had caught on to MacCallum'swork, and when anopportunity to beginworking at abrand new Florida Lego shop arose, they called and asked him to submit a resume.

"I certainly did, and from there, it's just been a whirlwind adventure," he laughed.

Today, he's officially an industrial designer atLegoland Florida, working for Merlin Entertainments, the company that owns the Legolanddiscovery centres, hotelsand themeparks.

"I neverreally intended for this to happen,"MacCallumsaid. "I just thought, maybe let's see how far Ican push this.

While he can't get too specific about the kinds of projects underway at Legoland, he said there's ample opportunity for him to stretch himself.

"You name it, we're designing it," he said.

The pros and cons of unlimited Lego

While MacCallumtheoretically has access to all the Lego he could ever need, he says that kind of access isboth "enabling," and "constraining."

"As much as every kid wants to have the very, very large collection, Ithink some of the best stuff I've seen comes out ofthe small collections," he said.

"I really do like having a limited amount of pieces, because that's where your creativity can really, really shine through," he said.

As for MacCallum's wife, she's now fully on board, MacCallumsaid.

"She told me over, and over, and over again that she's extremely proud of what I've accomplished, just in a short period of time."

"Her and Iare the kind of people who like adventure. We're always up for moving around and whatnot," he said.

"I promised her that I'd make her adventure dreams come true, so this is part of my promise to her for sorting all my Lego," he laughed.