Meet the LEGO MASTERS Australia Season 2 contestants: Andrew and Damian
Brick Fanatics is speaking to the LEGO MASTERS Australia Season 2 contestants to find out more about them and their passion for the hobby. Andrew and Damian discuss their experience as LEGO builders
LEGO MASTERS Australia is about to return with Season 2, with eight teams ready to compete to see who will be crowned brick-building champions and win the $100,000 prize. Each episode will see the LEGO builders taking on new challenges to show off their creativity.
In this exclusive interview, Brick Fanatics asks Andrew and Damian about their LEGO passion.
What is your LEGO background?
Damian: LEGO and I go way back. It was my favourite toy growing up, especially the Castle themed sets. I entered my first dark age during my mid-teens to early 20s until LEGO Star Wars came out. My second dark age began when we started a family. For the last six years I have been into LEGO more than ever and I am now able to share my passion for it with my children.
Andrew: I have been building with LEGO since I was a kid. My first set was the LEGO space rocket with launcher. From there I collected space sets until the 12 volt trains came along and have been hooked ever since. I didn’t really have a dark age as such.
What are your favourite types of models to build? Where do you do your building?
Andrew: My two favourite types of building are historical architecture and trains – in particular steam locomotives. I love the modular Creator sets as they demonstrate some awesome building techniques and they look really cool once complete.
Damian: I love the big epic builds like castle sieges, dragons and the clashing of armies. After my LEGO MASTERS experience though I am excited to try a few other genres.
I have completely taken over a spare bedroom which I have converted into a small brick pit and build table, but I’m now eying off the garage for future expansion.
Do you collect LEGO sets and/or bricks?
Damian: I was a collector of sets until I bought a couple of sets that I wanted to combine into one larger build and tried my hand at free building. That’s how I fell in love with building MOCs!
Andrew: I don’t collect sets really. I spend most of my building time on MOCs. As far as bricks go, I really only collect what I need in order to build something.
Do you have any other creative hobbies?
Andrew: I am a musician and Head of Music at my school so yes. I love music and continue to perform and tour through the school mostly.
Damian: I work as a graphic designer during the day so Lego is my “other” creative outlet.
Were you confident going into the LEGO MASTERS auditions?
Andrew: I was confident and also very nervous. It’s very hard to prepare for a build when you don’t know anything about the brief.
Damian: Yes, I was – but only because we had been through the process before with season one, so we knew what to expect.
How did you prepare for the show?
Andrew: Both Damian and I put ourselves through LEGO boot camp to help us prepare. Every week we would challenge each other to build something new. We also spent time building together pushing ourselves in our creativity and speed.
Damian: We set each other creative challenges and timed exercises.
What was it like stepping into the build room for the first time?
Damian: I was so nervous but excited at the same time. It didn’t feel real. It was like I was walking through the tv screen and being able to take in every detail of the set.
Andrew: Incredible. It felt like you were watching the show but had a 3D view of it. Like a walk-through experience. Meeting Hamish and Brickman was amazing along with our first step inside the brick pit. Just talking about it brings me back to those feelings of excitement, nervousness and determination.
The first episode of LEGO MASTERS Season 2 will air on Nine in Australia on Sunday, April 19 at 7.00pm.
To continue to support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com and Amazon using our affiliate links.
More LEGO MASTERS Australia Season 2 coverage
Interview with host Hamish Blake
Interview with judge Ryan McNaught
Episode reviews
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Exit interviews
Episode 3
Episode 4
Meet the contestants
Summer and Iona
Jackson and Alex
Trent and Josh
Jay and Stani
Jennifer and Jodie
Tim and Danii
Andrew and Damian
Annie and Runa
Author Profile
- Graham was the Brick Fanatics Editor up until November 2020. He has plenty of experience working on LEGO related projects, including LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity. He has contributed to various websites and publications on topics including niche hobbies, the toy industry and education.
Latest entries
25 Years of LEGO Star Wars06/05/2024How LEGO has spent the past 25 years making the Millennium Falcon better – and bigger
25 Years of LEGO Star Wars02/05/2024How Lucasfilm approved LEGO Star Wars sets in the age before video calls
25 Years of LEGO Star Wars01/05/2024How the LEGO Group cooked up the original LEGO Star Wars UCS X-wing
Features07/01/2021LEGO exclusive: AFOLs taught us to take adults seriously