Joanne Knight isn’t aware of Lego being an interest when she was younger. Photo / NZ Herald
She began googling things she could do while immobile. One of the results that popped up was Lego. It would change her life.
“I like building stuff, and I like Star Wars, and I saw Lego had a pile of Star Wars sets,” she says. “That was it. I was like, ‘All right, Lego’.”
She can’t remember the first set she built, “It was a smaller one, 800 pieces, and would have been Star Wars,” she says, but she does remember how it felt.
“I just loved it. I’d think, ‘I’ll just do a little bit,’ and two hours would have passed. Building Lego, you do lose track of time.”
She laughs and adds, “My partner Stacey was quite relieved, because I was beginning to do her head in as well before finding Lego. She was quite happy to buy sets. Over that period, I had eight surgeries, and every time I went for a surgery, I had a pile of Lego waiting for me when I got home.”
Knight had no childhood nostalgia or affinity for the ubiquitous plastic building blocks. Or if she did, she couldn’t remember.
“I had a bit of brain injury from the accident, and my childhood is gone,” she says. “But I know it was happy.”
Lego became a kind of therapy. Her preference was the Star Wars sets, but Knight would happily sit at the dining table and build any set that came her way – even ones she didn’t particularly care for.
“A lot of people bought me flower Lego sets as gifts. They’re not my favourite, but a friend of mine loves them. I’d build them and give them to her. She has the whole collection now.”
Joanne Knight is a fan of Star Wars, so most of her collection is Star Wars-themed. Photo / NZ Herald
This isn’t unusual for Knight, who has given away most of the sets she built, even those from her beloved Star Wars. She doesn’t know how many sets she’s gifted, but estimates it’d be in the hundreds.
That’s not to say she doesn’t keep any. She has a curated collection that sparks joy, all lovingly displayed in the Lego room/guest bedroom of her and Stacey’s home in Devonport. The shelves are festooned with sets from Knight’s favourite IPs, like The Avengers, Disney, replica real-world cars and even a Lego chess set. But it’s her Lego Star Wars collection consisting of ships, helmets and characters that demands the most real estate by far .
“This room is my happy place. All the sets in there are ones I’ve bought with no intentions of getting rid of. They’re for me to look at and get enjoyment out of. People can stay in here, but they’re under strict instruction: ‘Do not touch the Lego’.”
Then she sighs and says, “I’d love to get rid of the bed in there. My ultimate would be to get the massive Death Star set. It would fit in there perfectly.”
Lego superfan Joanne Knight with her Star Wars items. Photo / NZ Herald
The Death Star is a perfect example of how Lego has broadened its appeal from being simply a kids’ toy to now also offering desirable adult collectables. Once constructed, the Death Star stands a giant 70cm tall and 79cm wide, comes in at a whopping 9023 pieces, and has an equally impressive price tag of $1699.99. It’s a flagship piece, aimed squarely at the collector market. Back on planet earth, the Danish toy company has also targeted adult collectors with limited edition sets of fan favourites like the Friends coffee house and the Seinfeld apartment, Nintendo’s original Game Boy console and highly detailed Formula One racecars from McLaren and Ferrari, all at much more affordable price points.
Joanne admits that over the years, “the credit cards have occasionally had a hit” after Lego dropped a few desirable sets all at once, but generally she’s good at keeping her obsession under control. She usually has one set being built and one set waiting.
Some of Joanne Knight’s creations. Photo / NZ Herald
She says the expense of her hobby is easily justified. “I don’t drink,” she shrugs. “If you want to spend money on beer, knock yourself out. I’m going to spend money on Lego.”
Knight does get a few surprised looks when she tells people about her hobby. Not that she builds Lego, but that she has a bedroom in her house dedicated to it.
“That surprises people,” she says. “But generally people don’t bat an eyelid when I say I do Lego.”
The main guardrail on her collection is the available space in the room. Her partner has joked that there’s no more room for shelving. Knight is not deterred.
“I’ll find the space,” she says. “I’m pretty good with this building stuff now.”
Then she smiles and says, “I can make the pieces fit.”