It’s not everyday a designer gets to create a brick replica of a "harsh-environment ultra-deepwater dual-activity semi-submersible drilling rig," but that is just the opportunity Playwell Bricks designer Yvonne Strijbos received with this project. Offshore drilling contractor Transocean wanted a very special employee gift: a custom Playwell Bricks set of the Transocean Barents drilling rig in microscale.

When you look at a photo of a drilling rig, the first thing that stands out is the labyrinth of piping and details. At microscale, these details are the kind of the thing that can sink a project. Yvonne explains that “you have to leave out a lot of things to get the general feel of the model. At this scale you simply cannot add everything.”

She hasn’t done “a lot of microscaling so rethinking parts was a challenge. The client wanted a lot of detail but I had to take into account the project parameters as well.” Details on a project like this are limited by budget as well as size; a too large set can be difficult to send as well as build, depending on the recipients’ skill level.

“Putting as many details as I could on a small model took a lot of fiddling with parts,” Yvonne explains. This is an area where brick designers really start to show off their ingenuity, and Yvonne doesn’t disappoint. For the lifeboats, she employed carrots. That’s right, carrots. “It was hilarious, but it did the trick.”

After all, modern day life capsules are orange and rather carrot-like, far from the rowboats of yesteryear that most of us landlubbers tend to think of.

Here at Playwell Bricks, we like to imagine the hard-working Transocean employees building their own custom Transocean Barents set in their downtime, forging a deeper connection with their employer while also enjoying the mental health benefits of creative play.

If you’re approaching a major milestone you’d like to celebrate with your team, Playwell Bricks is here to help with custom production sets. Our team of dedicated designers will work with your ideas, budget, and gifting goals to help you build your dreams. Contact us today and gift well, with Playwell.