C3Brix: The Sky’s The Limit If You Don’t Follow The Instructions

The Bopper from C3Brix

The lesson is this:

If you want to do something truly amazing, don’t follow the instructions on the box.

Cody Wells is the owner of C3Brix. He is a LEGO artist who sells his cool, clever and nostalgic creations at the LIC Flea and Astoria Flea, with his fiancee Katie Proctor.

As a child, Cody would ask for LEGOs at the holidays. He grew up in a strict family, and yet it was his dad who suggested he make his own toys out of the blocks, rather than the prescribed shapes. His first creation was a LEGO Ghost Busters ghost trap to capture the ghosts he was certain haunted his bedroom. “I slept with it for months,” he said.

He continued to build with LEGOs as he grew up. He compares his creative process to that great scene in the movie Apollo 13, where the three astronauts have to move into the part of the damaged space ship designed for two people. The NASA engineers have to figure out how to build the carbon dioxide filters out of materials contained on the space ship so that all three people can survive the trip back to Earth. Of course, Cody’s projects do not usually hang in the balance. But he loves the challenge of creating something out of only the objects in his immediate environment.

At the Astoria Flea, I saw some of Cody’s LEGO portraits of iconic faces, such as Batman and Beeker (my muppet of choice) He also makes superhero emblems and other known logos, like the Nintendo sign pictured. I love his custom LEGO characters, including an entire tray of minions. Who doesn’t love minions?!

He also created the very fun C3Brix Bopper, a wrist gun that shoots tiny pellets at your friends and enemies!

C3Brix Custom Minions

It was actually Katie’s idea for them to move from Missouri to New York City. Cody had been working in the auto industry, and she recognized his true talent. New York seemed like the best place for him to follow his dream of creating a profession around his love for LEGOs.

Cody’s bigger dream is to open a studio where he can teach children how to create their own toys and inventions using LEGO blocks. He feels like he is rebuilding his own childhood with every block he connects. He wants to share with his students the joy of building things and the idea that there is more to life than what’s in the box. You can use the objects life presents you with to make your own creations, rather than something somebody else thought of for you.

Cody does custom work for corporate clients and individuals as well. His work has appeared at the World’s Fair 50th Anniversary LEGO Exhibit in Queens, Rockefeller Center, the Queens Mall, and an art gallery at the Butcher Bar in Queens. He counts several celebrities among his happy clients. Check out this video of Cody, “NYC’s LegoMan” (Password: lego).

So far, New York suits both Cody and Katie. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a purpose for myself.”

I could not agree more, LegoMan!

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~Karen Seiger, Markets of New York City