Brand Story We Love: LEGO Research Institute

Hooray for LEGO. Is there anything it can’t do? I think not.

Whether it’s being used to recreate the nine circles of hell from Dante’s Inferno or the latest Iron Man incarnation, there can be no doubt that this toy has thrived and evolved over the years.

And now the happy news that it will release a limited edition LEGO box set called “Research Institute” that features three female scientists: An astronomer, a paleontologist and a chemist.

LEGO hopes to release the box set this August

The set was designed by Ellen Koojiman, a geochemist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

In her project proposal, Kooijman wrote: “The motto of these scientists is clear: explore the world and beyond!”

Kooijman is an avid Lego builder and said she recognized a gender gap among the figurines. “As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets: a skewed male/female mini-figure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures,”

Girl Power

The box set is timely. Earlier this year, Charlotte Benjamin, a seven-year-old girl wrote a letter to LEGO complaining about their stereotypical gender sets. Her request was that they “make more LEGO girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?!”

It appears LEGO got the message.

Why We Love It
• Well, it’s LEGO
• It’s inspiring
• It adds much needed diversity to the LEGO culture