When we started brick3d.shop, part of the reason was simple curiosity. We wanted to learn how marketing actually works, not from books but by trying it ourselves.
We already knew there were other ways to get a custom minifigure. Some services turn your photo into a brick figure, and that's cool. But we kept thinking about video games, about that moment when you sit in the character creator for way too long, trying hair after hair until it finally looks like you. We wanted that feeling, but for brick figures.
Building that turned out to be the easy part. Well, almost. The hard part is the sheer number of choices a good configurator needs. Faces, hair, clothes, accessories... we keep adding more, and honestly, we don't think we'll ever feel "done."
Then came the question we'd been avoiding: how do people actually find out about this?
We decided our figures would mostly end up as gifts: couples celebrating an anniversary, friends marking a birthday, someone wanting a tiny brick version of the person they love. So we did what everyone does and opened TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Here's where we went our own way. Most custom figure shops post a photo, then the finished figure, then a "make yours" link. Clear and simple. We decided to make little stories instead, starring ourselves as brickmen: Henry needing a new outfit, Helena hunting for a birthday present, both of us poking around the configurator along the way.
We thought it was fun. We still do.
But lately a few people have told us, kindly but clearly, that it's a terrible idea. Their argument: people want to see their own figure, not ours.
They might be right. They might not be. And that's kind of the point. We started this to learn, so we're going to find out properly. We are going to keep experimenting with ways to spread the word.
In the meantime, if you're curious, try making a figure of yourself.
- Henry and Helena