Piece by Piece:
Behind the bricks with the LEGO guy

Something about the world of LEGO just clicked for Bellevue Club LEGO instructor Dan Parker. As one of nine LEGO-certified master builders in the world, Dan has taken a toy and turned it into an art form.

Although he played with LEGO as a child, the hobby laid dormant until Dan rediscovered it at age 30 through his nephews.

“I was always a creative kid. I’ve always been into architecture, engineering and carpentry,” he says.

An engineer with a high-tech research laboratory, Dan began building with LEGO bricks in his free time as a way to relax. Over the course of the next nine years, his projects began gaining intricacy and depth.

“While I was building, I started seeing all sorts of opportunities, and it was suggested me that I launch a commercial enterprise,” he says. He launched his LEGO-building studio in 1999 and now splits time between hosting educational events and classes and building commissioned projects for clients in his Tacoma work studio. His work ranges all over the map, literally.

“It might be a skyscraper or something to embody a client’s business for a show or event,” he says. In 2005, he got a Michelangelo-like commission for a project from a Catholic shrine in St. Louis, which made national news.

“We did a life-size nativity scene,” he says. “The whole display was over 1 million components.”

At the Bellevue Club, Dan regularly hosts popular LEGO classes and summer camps for junior members that help develop motor skills, imagination and creativity.

“We want to offer kids something fresh and creative—something that peaks and challenges their interests,” he says. Each day, Dan helps them explore a different format of LEGO building, from space travel to castles in the ancient world. While Dan offers encouragement and structure, he wants kids to be able to explore their individuality through LEGO building.

“If I have 24 kids in a program, then we’ll have 24 separate little agendas,” he says. “We want to walk with each of them on this great journey.”

He encourages kids in his classes to relax and enjoy creativity for its own sake.

“Some kids today need to be taught how to play,” he says. “I meet a lot of kids who don’t know how to play because they’re so used to regimented schedules and being told what to do.”

Does Dan ever get tired of LEGO building?

“It’s all fun to me, I love it every bit as much as when I started 20 years ago,” he says. And what’s the favorite genre of a LEGO master?

“I love to build city skylines,” he says. “My dream would be to build the entire Bellevue city skyline and have it on display in the downtown core. But that would probably be a challenge because it’s changing so fast.”

Call 425.688.3177 for more information or to register your child (ages 6-10) for the upcoming Spring Break LEGO Camp, April 5-9.

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