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About Us Women of LEGO®

Girls love building LEGO® sets too!

LEGO® play is by no means reserved for boys.

This couldn’t be better demonstrated than in the fact that Kiddiwinks’ own founder is Bryony Poulter, who herself grew up building LEGO® sets. This Women’s Month, we get talking to her about her insight into the wonderful world of LEGO® bricks.

“LEGO® bricks hold a world of opportunity for everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, ability. Don’t lose sight of the magic.” – Bryony Poulter, owner and founder Kiddiwinks

Why do you love LEGO® sets so much?

Some of my earliest memories involve creating fantasy worlds with our treasured LEGO® sets that were then carefully packed back into their boxes. I had a piano, a milk truck, forklift and a family of people who had round faces and little knobble hands. Play was simple but all absorbing for hours and hours.

What does a LEGO® brick mean to you?

Playing with LEGO® bricks together with someone else is such an easy way for all barriers to come down. Every skill level has a place to fit in. There is no limit to the scope of imagination.

What fuels your passion for LEGO® products?

There is a bond formed between people when they sit and build together. You can make a world where you can mirror reality or create an entirely new existence. LEGO® life is simple and yet infinitely complex. Your imagination is given free rein.

2018 will be Kiddiwinks’ 18th year. What would you say has been your biggest motivator during these past 18 years?

LEGO® System 4561 Railway Express was the first set to be brought in by Bryony for her oldest son in 2002. Then a clothing business, Kiddiwinks quickly evolved into a LEGO® shop.

We started the business because we couldn’t purchase a LEGO® set that we wanted. This was the driving force for so long – to source and supply sets that people were looking for. As more and more businesses started stocking bigger ranges of sets, it became more important to grow a family of customers based on a mutual passion for a product. This is the most important thing I ask for in my staff members – to display the passion for the product that more people can enter this amazing LEGO® world, and in doing so can experience the same magic that we experience every time we build.

What was it like to open your very first Kiddiwinks store?

With my mother predicting the doom and gloom of financial failure, I signed a lease for a shop in a very surreal moment. It was terrifying knowing that I had committed to paying tens of thousands of Rands every month and I was entirely dependent on people buying products. I still sometimes feel like I am playing shop-shop.

LEGO® sets haven’t always been so gender-inclusive. 

Our website used to have a category called Girls. One day I received an email from a young girl who complained that this limited her LEGO® options as she felt compelled to choose sets from this category as this is what was expected of her. She said she far preferred the sets that her brother was allowed to choose such as cars and boats where there was actual construction, instead of the fantasy play of the pop stage or kitchen counter and food sets that were labelled for her. We removed the category in response to this and, in addition, sent a message to The LEGO Group asking for more construction sets with girls in mind.

If you had to choose one, what would be your favourite LEGO® set of all time?

I think I have always been more drawn by the little details in sets as opposed to the vastness of an impressive construction. The simplicity of a LEGO® duck put together with 4 basic pieces is awesome. If I have to choose, I think the set that held the most magic for me was the Medieval Market Village 10193.

Tell us one wonderful memory you have of LEGO® bricks and your family.

We went overseas in 2007 and spent a glorious week in LEGOLAND Windsor. We camped in a borrowed tent and were first in the park every day, living LEGO® bliss in all its glory. I was pregnant with my youngest and he constantly reminds us that his turn is still to come….

Kiddiwinks has been instrumental in sharing its passion for LEGO® products through LEGO® parties, LEGO® exhibitions, robotics training and competing in the FIRST LEGO League challenge. Tell us a bit about how this empowers LEGO® fans.

So often assumptions are made about LEGO® sets. There is the assumption that everyone has knowledge of the product, and yet, at probably every third party we run there is a kid who has never played with a LEGO® set before. It is presumed that LEGO® bricks are for children, and yet the scope of how the LEGO® robotics components and skills can be used in university labs is mind-blowing. Every exhibition or display reminds us of how LEGO® creations open a world for people which is unlimited in its magic.

What’s your LEGO® wisdom? 

Find the moments to create a dinosaur that looks more like a horse or build a castle for a king. Don’t be limited by the “I can’ts” that the world teaches us.

Find out more about where Kiddiwinks started at our About Us page or simply shop for your favourite LEGO® sets over at shop.kiddiwinks.co.za.

3 replies on “Girls love building LEGO® sets too!”

Oh Bryony it has been fantastic to see your growth and journey with your passion for Lego. I started buying the little packets of 2nd hand lego (and there was always the thrill to get something different on the shelf or order) when my son Justin was 2….he just turned 18 and YES every Christmas and Birthday I still give him a small token of lego..I cant seem to break the traditions. This last week he got Batman and the old dude with the electric guitar! Thank you for sharing the passion and opening our world to so many lego memories…Bionicles still are the BEST! Long live Kiddiwinks and LEGO

It’s so wonderful to hear this kind of feedback. Thanks so much for the vote of confidence!

Wonderful Bryony to hear your “small” beginnings. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping us to start from home in 2010 where we could buy 1 box of every type rather than 6 or 8 from Head Office. I also had doom & gloom from my brother when we first started, its been a rocky ride with the unrest in Hermanus but hey we survived! We have the same passion for LEGO & unpack our deliveries like its Christmas! I remember my first set was the Hospital which we’re so happy to see back this year. Take care. Sue

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