How it began
In 1997
Dirk's eldest daughter celebrated her 6th birthday. One of her friends
gave her a box of LEGO. If papa could help? It didn't take long before
Dirk was back on track. After a break of about 14 years, he rediscovered
the Danish toy.
He collected the bricks that were still at his parents' house. He went
to all local and not-so-local shops to find bricks at cheap prices and
bought himself a very large amount of boxes and bricks...
Dirk always incorporates his hobbies into his profession. So he looked
for a way to integrate LEGO in his shows. He was writing a new show in
1999, called Tijd (Time), and wanted to do something new with Willem Vermandere,
a famous Flemish singer he had been parodying for a few years then. Now
this Willem Vermandere is not only a singer, he is also a sculpturer.
So why not make a sketch about Willem doing something with a statue in
LEGO.
LEGO Belgium was contacted, and there Luc Wittockx and Ludo Stroobants
supported the idea.
Dirk got the bricks to build Vermandere, and everybody praised him with
the result. Two years later Dirk celebrated his 10th year on stage. Some
talks with LEGO, and Dirk got the permission to build an exhibition of
over 25 heads of famous people he either imitates or knows personally.
And now building LEGO is his second profession!
It is not in the Guiness Book of Records, but Dirk is the first and "largest"
LEGO head builder in the world!
(He'll have to hurry though, as Gay Bagley and his team in LEGOLAND Windsor
are getting very close now!)
Sometimes it's a painful hobby
Exactly on Dirk's birthday, 2 October 2003, this picture of a broken up Willem Vermandere arrived in Dirk's mailbox... it took us 6 months to repair him... |
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Where are they? - Photo galery - true and false - Movie - How to order! - Credits
