Blue waves with frothy white edges crest over tiny wooden boats trapped in the sea. The scene is a recreation of Hokusai’s famous painting “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” However, on closer inspection, the scene doesn’t quite have the same texture as the original wood block painting. That’s because this isn’t just any recreation of Hokusai’s painting — it was created by senior Jayden Peng using only LEGO. Fans posted dozens of comments on the LEGO website in support of Jayden’s design, submitted to the LEGO Ideas platform, where he would go on to receive over 10,000 votes supporting his creation.

Jayden’s earliest supporters were his older cousins, who passed their LEGO sets down to him and sparked his passion for building LEGO. However, it wasn’t until the pandemic, when Jayden found himself with excess free time, that he began designing his own sets.

“I was watching LEGO Masters with my cousin, and he said, ‘These people are so bad, you could probably do better than them,’” Jayden said. “Finally, I lost a bet, and he told me that I had to design a LEGO set because I lost a bet. It was a weird bet, but I did that and I ended up being pretty good at it, so I just kept on doing it.”

As Jayden continued to design more sets, he began posting them to the LEGO Ideas website, where users can submit their digital LEGO designs to garner support from other avid builders. If a design reaches 10,000 supporters, it is reviewed by the LEGO company, which selects the best designs to turn into official LEGO sets. 

Jayden has submitted around 20 of his designs to the LEGO Ideas website, seven of which have received the required 10,000 supporters to be considered by the LEGO company. Some of these designs include a turtle, the Temple of Time from the “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” along with a recreation of Hokusai’s famous “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” although none of them became sellable sets.

When describing his building process, Jayden said that he didn’t have that much planning behind it. Whereas most people create a mood board, draw their design out and make a micro-scale model, Jayden said that he skips all of it, and does better by going straight into the building.

Jayden’s mom Eunice Peng says Jayden was always interested in LEGOs, and that his interest increased with the many opportunities to try different things with it, including designing his own sets and meeting other avid LEGO builders to share ideas. As his interest evolved, he challenged himself to slowly build harder designs and to test out different techniques, creating models of buildings that he and his family had visited or found appealing.

“I think Jayden’s mind works in a way that he can see things spatially, and building LEGO has allowed him to express himself that way,” Eunice said. “Building LEGO is not necessarily a very social activity, and so it’s not the same outlet for him in terms of social interaction. However, there are a lot of amazing communities out there, all sorts of platforms where you go to meet people who love LEGO, and he’s been able to connect with people in that way instead.”

Apart from sharing his best creations on LEGO Ideas in hopes of turning his builds into sets that eventually could be sold to customers, Jayden’s builds have also received recognition from other organizations. Jayden’s dad John Peng, recalls that one of Jayden’s builds during Black History Month, a recreation of the Rosa Parks bus, received recognition from the Rosa Parks Museum. 

“I took Jayden to see the bus in Detroit before he built the bus,” John said. “While his design ultimately didn’t win that competition, somehow Rosa Parks’ museum found out about it, the museum sent a message to Jayden asking how they could help him win the competition. He got really into it and realized that there were so many things going on that were interesting.” 

Throughout Jayden’s journey in building his passion for LEGOs, he has served as his own manager and director for most, if not all, of his creations, from managing social media platforms to designing new builds and brainstorming ideas. The minimum age to publish content on LEGO Ideas is 16, making Jayden one of the youngest creators on the platform when he first started creating builds. 

“Jayden really jumped into designing LEGO full force,” John said. “When he got into it, he actually started to win to get into the semi-finals, which was kind of unexpected for me. It was honestly quite impressive, and he did it with virtually zero help from me, all by himself.” 

While Jayden was exploring the LEGO Ideas website to find more ideas and look at other fellow designers’ ideas, he also slowly found community in the group. Through the community, Jayden finds other individuals who also share his passion for LEGO. 

“Building LEGO has exposed me to a really, really positive community,” Jayden said. “The people that build LEGO online are so humble, nice and really care about helping others rather than benefiting their own creations, and so exposure to that community has really helped me grow.” 

In the future, Jayden hopes to major in product design and believes that his skills in LEGO building could aid in his career. While he is still unsure where LEGO might take him, Jayden believes that his passion for LEGOs nevertheless served a meaningful purpose in his life. 

“Building LEGO is a good way for me to visualize my thoughts,” Jayden said. “I just take the pieces and build whatever is in my head. For some people, it might be drawings, others use paint, but I use LEGO.”

This story was originally published on El Estoque on January 30, 2025.