ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Hillel Cooperman - Entrepreneur, Lego enthusiast
When Hillel Cooperman isn't running his startup or seeking out the world's best food, he's investigating the secret underground world of Lego toys.

Why you should listen

Seattle-based entrepreneur and Lego enthusiast Hillel Cooperman founded Jackson Fish Market, a web software consultancy and design firm that has helped brands like Bing and WeSeed define their user experience.

His food exploration blog/review storehouse TastingMenu focuses on "identifying, documenting and recommending superlative restaurant and eating experiences from all over the world."

More profile about the speaker
Hillel Cooperman | Speaker | TED.com
TED2010

Hillel Cooperman: LEGO for grownups

Filmed:
1,216,398 views

LEGO blocks: playtime mainstay for industrious kids, obsession for many (ahem!) mature adults. Hillel Cooperman takes us on a trip through the beloved bricks' colorful, sometimes oddball grownup subculture, featuring CAD, open-source robotics and a little adult behavior.
- Entrepreneur, Lego enthusiast
When Hillel Cooperman isn't running his startup or seeking out the world's best food, he's investigating the secret underground world of Lego toys. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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So, these are
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the Dark Ages.
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And the Dark Ages are the time between
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when you put away the Lego
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for the last time as a kid,
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and you decide as an adult that it is okay to play with a kid's toy.
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Started out with my then four-year-old:
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"Oh, should buy the kid some Lego.
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That stuff's cool."
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Walked into the Lego store.
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Bought him this.
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It's totally appropriate for a four-year-old.
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(Laughter)
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I think the box says --
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let's see here --
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"8 to 12" on it.
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I turn to my wife and said, "Who are we buying this for?"
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She's like, "Oh, us." I'm like, "Okay. All right. That's cool."
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Pretty soon it got a little bit out of control.
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The dining room looked like this.
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You walk there, and it hurts.
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So we took a room downstairs in the basement
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that had been used as sort of an Abu Ghraib annex.
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01:17
(Laughter)
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Torture, very funny.
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Wow, you guys are great.
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And we put down those little floor tiles,
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and then I went onto eBay
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and bought 150 pounds of Lego --
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(Laughter)
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which is insane.
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My daughter -- the day we got it, I was tucking her in --
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and I said,
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"Honey, you're my treasure."
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And she said, "No, the Lego is the treasure."
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(Laughter)
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And then she said, "Dad, we're Lego rich."
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I was like, "Yeah.
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I suppose we are."
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So then once you do that
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you're like, "Oh, crap. Where am I going to put all this?"
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So you go to The Container Store
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and spend an enormous amount of money,
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and then you start this crazy sorting process
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that never --
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it's just nuts.
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Whatever.
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So then you realize there are these conventions.
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And you go to one of these conventions, and some dude built the Titanic.
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And you're like, "Holy shit!
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He had to come in like a truck,
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a semi, with this thing."
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And then someone built this -- this is the Smith Tower in Seattle.
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Just beautiful.
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And there's a dude selling these
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aftermarket weapons for Lego,
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because Lego -- the Danish --
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no, they're not into guns.
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But the Americans? Oh, we'll make some guns for Lego, no problem.
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And at a certain point, you look around,
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you're like, "Whoa, this is a really nerdy crowd."
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And I mean like this is a nerdy crowd,
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but that's like a couple of levels above furries.
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(Laughter)
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The nerds here, they get laid --
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except for the lady with the condoms in her pocket --
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and you say to yourself at some point,
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"Am I part of this group? Like, am I into this?"
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And I was just like, "Yeah, I guess I am.
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I'm coming out.
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I'm kind of into this stuff, and I'm going to stop being embarrassed."
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So then you really get into it,
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and you're like, "Well, the Lego people in Denmark, they've got all this software
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to let you build your own virtually."
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And so this is like this CAD program where you build it.
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And then whatever you design virtually,
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you click the button and it shows up at your doorstep a week later.
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And then some of the designs that people do
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they actually sell in the store.
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The Lego guys don't give you any royalties, strangely,
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but some user made this and then it sold.
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And it's pretty amazing actually.
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Then you notice that if that
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Lego-provided CAD program isn't enough,
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there's an entire open-source, third-party,
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independent Lego CAD program
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that lets you do 3D modeling
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and 3D rendering
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and make, in fact, movies out of Lego,
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3D films
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of which there are thousands on YouTube,
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and some of them sort of mimicking famous films
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and some totally original content --
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just beautiful --
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and people recreating all sorts of things.
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I have to take a moment.
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I love the guy who's like running away
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with his clasps, his hooks.
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Okay. Anyway.
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(Laughter)
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There's a whole programming language and robotics tool,
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so if you want to teach someone how to program,
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kid, adult, whatever it is.
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And the guy that made this,
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he made a slot machine out of Lego.
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And I don't mean he made Lego that looked like a slot machine;
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I mean he made a slot machine out of Lego.
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The insides were Lego.
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There's people getting drunk building Lego,
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and you've got to finish the thing before you puke.
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There's a whole gray market for Lego,
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thousands of home-based businesses.
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And some people will fund their entire Lego habit
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by selling the little guy,
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but then you have no guys in your ships.
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And then, just some examples. This stuff really is sculpture.
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This is amazing what you can do.
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And don't kid yourself:
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some architectural details, incredible organic shapes
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and just, even, nature out of, again, little blocks.
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This is my house.
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And this is my house.
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I was afraid a car was going to come smash it
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as I was taking a picture for you guys.
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Anyway, I'm out of time.
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But just very quickly --
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we'll just see if I can do this quick.
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Because there aren't enough TED logos around here.
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(Laughter)
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Let's see here.
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Okay.
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Ta-da.
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05:40
(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Hillel Cooperman - Entrepreneur, Lego enthusiast
When Hillel Cooperman isn't running his startup or seeking out the world's best food, he's investigating the secret underground world of Lego toys.

Why you should listen

Seattle-based entrepreneur and Lego enthusiast Hillel Cooperman founded Jackson Fish Market, a web software consultancy and design firm that has helped brands like Bing and WeSeed define their user experience.

His food exploration blog/review storehouse TastingMenu focuses on "identifying, documenting and recommending superlative restaurant and eating experiences from all over the world."

More profile about the speaker
Hillel Cooperman | Speaker | TED.com