For years, Wendy Coppola has helped her two boys build Lego creations, such as Technic Ferraris and Porsches, but now for the first time she's fallen in love with the bricks herself.
Wendy, from Figtree near Wollongong, has created an original, oversized piece of wall art made of Lego flowers.
"I've always helped the boys, I've always sat there next to them while they built, other than that I wasn't really building anything," she says.
"Lego, the flowers came out, and I was sucked straight back in, I absolutely love them.
"I've always loved plants but the flowers … you can't kill them."
Wendy says, after years of working with the red, yellows and blues that came with her boys' kits, the latest colours are refreshing.
"Original Lego is not pinks and purples, but this is absolutely beautiful," she says.
"I have definitely jumped into the colours that have come out with the flowers."
Measuring 1.04 metres by 64 centimetres, the wall art was made using a backboard of 40 connected squares, and has hundreds of cable ties so it doesn't fall apart.
Wendy has no idea how many Lego bricks have gone into her creation.
She hasn't used glue so she can add to her wall art if she wants.
Lego marketed at adults
Lego enthusiast and model builder Ryan "Brickman" McNaught can be found working on Lego models in stores, museums and galleries across the Asia-Pacific region.
He says things have come a long way since the 70s when there were blue and pink aisles in department stores.
"In those days, Lego was firmly in the blue aisle and seen as a boys' toy, but a Lego brick doesn't care what gender you are so as the world opened [up again after COVID-19 restrictions], it became clear that it's cool for everybody," Ryan says.
He says he has witnessed two changes in Lego's marketing.
"It feels like there's been a marketing shift where they are targeting everybody," he says.
"About 10 years ago Lego started to market towards adults, which was a big change as complexity advanced.
The second shift was to include women.
"Fifty per cent of the world is female so why wouldn't you appeal to them."
Ryan has seen an uptake of Lego among women.
"Once the Lego movie came out it opened up people's minds about what Lego bricks can do and the gender agnostic nature of Lego bricks," he says.
"So I think it is fair to say there has been quite an uptake in that."
Creative endeavour that costs time and money
Originally, Wendy wanted a big artwork for a blank wall in her home.
She decided to create her own after attending a Lego show, where she saw the perfect construction board.
"I saw a Lego world map and it's quite big and I thought, 'Oh, that's a good size and it already has the base, so I don't have to try to create it myself,"' Wendy says.
After a bit of research, she played with pieces she had, and it all came together.
"I slowly started ordering all the parts, which took a long time and cost a lot of money, but it was worth it because I absolutely love it," she says.
Wendy believes the artwork was made possible due to the 1-centimetre-thick baseboard that holds the weight of so much Lego, but she still took precautions.
"I've cable-tied everything together so there would be a couple of hundred cable ties in the back of that, so I can transport it easier," she says.
Along with her boys, Wendy will be taking her artwork to Lego shows including Gonglug, organised by her cousin Graham Draper, who proudly shared her photo online.
"It's been shared in Portugal, America … I've had people messaging me saying, 'Can I use your photo for my Lego shop?' and I am like, 'of course', so it's been amazing," Wendy says.
"People do comment which is great because everyone is entitled to their opinion.
"This is my wall though, so I'll do it how I want."
Gonglug is being held at the Illawarra Sports Stadium in Berkeley on April 20 and 21.