Playwell Bricks designer Eric Dubois Yang is a professional. He’s overcome several design challenges with a fortitude made of, well, bricks. But a primary school almost broke him.

The Headmaster of London’s Roger Ascham Primary School made the decision to retire. The school staff commissioned a custom Playwell Bricks set of the school as a retirement gift.

The deadline for the finished set was unmistakably tight, but Eric had the space in his calendar, so he took it on. He wasted no time getting started, using the images provided from the staff as well as public images of the school online. The staff asked for certain interior details to be represented, some unique architectural elements, and the three main buildings; the main school, an external classroom, and, of course, the Headmaster’s office.

Then, disaster struck. Eric’s car was broken into and the laptop with his design software was stolen. With only twenty days to go, Eric had to turn the project over to a newer member of the team who was still learning the details of how Playwell Bricks puts their sets together.

After two weeks, Eric had his new PC up and working, only to discover that his replacement was in over their head with this large project. Eric quickly took back over the project. “I had to work fifty hours in three days to get the project caught back.” He shakes his head. “It was a traumatizing experience. Luckily, we had another team member available to start the instruction layouts while I finished designing the final building.” Like Eric, this designer worked around the clock to meet the deadline.

“The roofing on the red-roofed building was tricky, as under time stress I didn’t want any structural issues, so I opted for a safe and more accessible system where they sit 45 degrees on top.

“It was always important to scale down and choose key sections we would want to depict, so that the set evokes the maximum meaning to the client that is going to receive it,” explains Eric.

Thanks to Eric’s herculean effort and the team’s help, this custom Roger Ascham school set arrived on time for the Headmaster’s retirement. Playwell Bricks hopes this bespoke set keeps the memory of the years spent as Headmaster vivid and alive.

If you have a special event you’d like to commemorate with a custom Playwell Bricks set, contact us today. Our designers will work with your goals, budget, and ideas to ensure that you gift well. With Playwell.