Meet the Jersey girl who is building her career...out of Lego!

Friday 04 May 2018

Cara Malorey-Vibert never thought studying product design at university would see her land a job creating one of the toys she used to play with when she was a child, as well as the brand’s next big blockbuster due out next year.

Playing with Lego pieces all day sounds like a dream job, but the 23-year-old says her job as a designer for Lego does involve work, despite her office sounding like a playground.

“Some days we have play test days where you take the toys to different cultured children to see how they play with the toys, that is very insightful as it shows how children think and also gives you ideas on how you could make a product better to play with.

“Yes we do play with Lego most of the day but it is still work and we do have criteria to hit and deadlines also! So although we play with Lego it is more working with Lego as it has to look good and for someone who is not an AFOL (adult fan of Lego) making something look good out of Lego is actually quite challenging and frustrating, but you get better as time goes on. However, there was a slide in my Danish office... and many other cool play area things,” explains Cara.

Cara was first discovered by the world-wide brand after she decided to focus a degree project while she was at the University of Plymouth on theme parks, rather than the more serious topics like diabetes and energy waste that she had done previously. Her project took her to Legoland where she discovered parents were enjoying the park through a mobile screen rather than the naked eye, and she came up with an idea to change that.

Pictured: One of the tasks Lego asked Cara to do was to make a mini version of herself. 

“This led me on to designing a Lego drone to take photos of people in Legoland on demand from a wrist band, instead of them having to take photos through their phones. This got me an interview at Lego as it made me stand out from others and it showed that I thought out of the box. I got the job after a few more interviews and play tests in Denmark.”

Cara moved to the Lego headquarters in Denmark where she was initially given the job to design Disney Princesses before she was asked to move to work on the company’s next big film, the sequel to the Lego Movie due out in February 2019. 

“Being a female product designer is rare and they needed a girl’s point of view on the movie. I have a say in the storyline and we brief projects about what the characters will be like and how the scenery looks etc. We build this all out of Lego and spray paint different bricks.

“I would say it’s one of the most creative themes in Lego as they are all designed in house with not too much input from our theme itself, unlike with Disney which had limitations and we just built it in different ways until they were happy,” said Cara

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Pictured: Cara was greeted with some flowers and a lego creator set on her first day. Cara and her Lego Movie Team dressing up for Fastelavn, a traditional holiday.

Although she enjoys constructing builds out of plastic pieces now, it wasn’t a hobby she loved as a child: “I didn't have that much enthusiasm about the product until I was in my third year [of University] doing my final major. Once you use your imagination you can actually create some really cool things! I find it so much easier now that I have unlimited amounts of bricks in many different colours in the brick stock at Lego!” 

But despite a slide in her office in Denmark, the lure of the sea proved too much for the keen surfer. So Cara has moved back to Jersey, where she also works as a Graphic and Web Designer for Sandpiper CI, rebranding its company image, on top of all her other hobbies.

“I have only just taken the job at Sandpiper CI so this is my third week at the place. I manage it as best as I can. I am also a RNLI Lifeboat Crew member, RNLI Lifeguard, battle of flowers builder/designer and a very keen triathlete. As you can see I do not sit down, I get up early and get home late seven days a week, but I love everything I do.”

Cara highly recommends people check out the new Lego movie when it’s released next year, but won’t give away any spoilers: “It will be awesome and it is the sequel to the first ever Lego movie, so watch that before February 2019. Other than that my lips are sealed.”