Recent Shadle Park High School grad wins Lego competition. You can help his creation advance further

On any given day, Joseph Perkins can be found tucked away in a carpeted walk-in-closet creating works of art out of plastic bricks.

“It’s like a way to decompress,” Joseph said. “It reminds me of my childhood, and so after a long day or whatever, I’ll be able to just go down there. It’s a creative release for me.”

Despite spending most of his free time clicking Lego bricks together, the 18-year-old Spokane resident said he wasn’t very forthcoming about his hobby with his peers throughout his school days. His fellow Shadle Park High School alums may be surprised to hear about the heights he’s reached with the craft since graduating just a few months ago.

Last Thursday, Joseph was named one of 75 winners in the Danish toy company’s annual Lego House Competition, which calls on crafters from around the world to submit their builds pertaining to certain themes. The winning builds are placed on display at the LEGO House in Bilund, Denmark, while the crafters receive a limited edition buildable model of the Lego House and two free tickets to the museum to see their display.

There may be more in store for Joseph if he manages to land the grand champion or runner-up champion titles, with which fans from the Inland Northwest can assist by voting for his model on the Lego Ideas website. The voting window closes next Tuesday, and the title winners will be named on Aug. 26.

This year’s competition featured three categories: “20,000 Bricks Under the Sea” for aquatic themed builds, “Under the Microscope” for builds celebrating science and the natural world, and “If It Runs On Rails” designed for rail transportation builds. Joseph’s win came in the latter category for his creation entitled “Mr. Fox’s Handcar,” which depicts a cartoonish orange fox making his way through the American Southwest one pump at a time – complete with saguaro cacti, a rattlesnake and a sun-bleached cow skull.

It was one of a handful of builds Joseph entered across the three categories, and he figured it was the least likely to be recognized. He and his mother, Mary Perkins, were sitting on the couch of their home in the Indian Trail neighborhood when he opened the contest webpage last Thursday and saw Mr. Fox’s familiar face. A lot of shock and joy ensued, they said.

“I had gone through the other two (categories) and was like, ‘Ah well, I don’t see my name yet,’ but then I went through the next one,” Joseph said. “It was the very last entry at the bottom.”

“He’s like ‘It’s me, and you won’t believe which one it is,’ ” Mary added. “And I’m like ‘Well, we’ll take it.’ ”

Perkins also entered a ballpark that featured a small train running in a loop from either end of the grandstands into the category, but the Lego creators and judges seemed to prefer the smooth, cartoonish and cohesive look and feel of his handcart model.

It’s not his biggest, flashiest or most complicated build over the years, which includes mosaics picturing Ken Griffey Jr., hip -hop legends Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls or the sunken pirate ship submitted in the undersea category. Perkins said he’s proud Lego recognized the storytelling, artistry and technique that went into Mr. Fox.

“Just visiting the Lego House has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember,” Perkins said. “And then to be able to actually display one of my pieces in it and become kind of a part of Lego history is just so incredible.”

Like a lot of his crafting peers, Joseph’s Lego love affair started at an early age. He remembers his father, Kyle Perkins, dumping a box of bricks in front of him when he was just a toddler, and it’s been his own little retreat ever since.

“It was my ’80s Legos that I had,” Kyle recalled. “He just really took to them, and building, so that drove us to go to Legoland for the first time.”

That first trip turned into an annual visit to the Carlsbad, California, theme park for the Perkins family. Joseph and his younger brother Nicholas would have a grand time on the rides and inventing new creations in the play areas, while their parents would carve a few days out for the San Diego area beaches, Kyle said.

After his passion became clear, Joseph received sets on every birthday and Christmas morning, sharing some of that love for the bricks with his brother. Nicholas, 16, has since moved on to more elaborate tinkering, and is currently in the process of rebuilding a 1978 Chevy in the family’s garage.

“He’s matured more than I have,” Joseph said with a laugh.

Despite the jokes, Joseph’s interests pertaining to Lego have evolved as well. He first got into building MOCs, Lego fan shorthand for “My Own Creation,” as a teenager, and won his first contest last year following the loss of a family friend he regarded as an uncle.

The magazine Tips and Bricks asked builders to submit models depicting themselves contending with a challenge, so Joseph submitted a small build featuring himself by a grave, while a large spiky specter representing grief looms overhead.

“He was my dad’s best friend growing up, but he’s also one of my best friends,” Joseph said. “I really had a close connection with him. That was the first contest I won. It was kind of a tribute to him.”

Joseph said it felt great to be able to honor his uncle in that way, and it opened his eyes to what he could accomplish in competitive settings. He hopes to continue to enter builds into competitions through Lego and beyond for years to come, if he can squeeze it in between classes.

In a few weeks, Joseph will move to Seattle to study architecture at the University of Washington, with the eventual goal of working at amusement parks. He wants to join the designers and engineers who create larger-than-life immersive worlds in the parks, commonly referred to by the Disney company as “Imagineers.”

“As he starts his college career, and with his focus on architecture, I think it’s given him a very good background,” Kyle said. “He’s doing something he loves and he wants to be an Imagineer, so why not shoot for the stars?”

Kyle and Mary said they could not be prouder of what their son has accomplished, and they hope the contest recognition shows him he’s able to accomplish his goals, however lofty they may be. Mary, who’ll likely take the other Lego House ticket and make the trek with Joseph over winter or spring break, added that she “can’t wait to see what he does with his future.”

“As a momma, it just makes my heart warm,” Mary said.