When D1 Milano, luxe watch manufacturer, needed a Christmas gift for clients in Hong Kong and Dubai, they turned to Playwell Bricks. One of their best-selling watches, the Polycarbon Shadow, boasts a completely black look. D1 Milano's catalogue refers to it as “an experiment between monochromatic minimalism and the unexpected.” “Time flies,” it goes on to say, “But shadows always prevail.”

It's enough to give a reader goosebumps!

It was Shadow that D1 Milano wanted Playwell Bricks to recreate with genuine LEGO® bricks. Playwell Bricks CEO Jason Pyett did the design himself. Team member Paul Lavallée teases him for his tendency of “always trying to make circles with bricks that were made to be square,” but this trait certainly worked to Jason’s advantage with this project!

The most technically difficult part of this project was the watch strap itself. D1 Milano advised Playwell Bricks to focus on “form over function” for this brick-made watch, but Jason’s also never met a challenge he didn’t like. He wound up designing four different brick bracelets based on Shadow’s soft touch strap and offered them up to D1 Milano to determine which they preferred (all four pictured below).

Once D1 Milano made their choice (the one on the right in the above photo), the only thing left to design was the monochromatic black face of the watch, get the final approvals, and send it to another team member for the test building stage.

It was Pedro Lara who did the test build. He admits that he “tried to force [the strap] to break in every possible use and occasion, and I gotta say, this thing is sturdy!” After making a few notes for clarifications in the set’s instructions, this set was almost ready to go.

As a final touch, the QR code for the instructions was printed on luxe linen paper and sent to D1 Milano to be packed inside the Shadow’s own boxes for shipping out to their clients.

If you have a product that you’d like to see become a custom Playwell Bricks set made from genuine LEGO® bricks, contact us today! Even if you’re not sure which of your products would make the best custom set, our team will guide you through our process based on your brand, your goals, and your products in your initial Discovery Call.