Transocean is one of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors, with a fleet of 37 drilling units. One of their rigs, the Transocean Barents, recently embarked for the Black Sea to drill ten wells as part of the Neptun Deep project.

Transocean wanted an employee gift that would connect their team to their purpose, something that would have them engage with Transocean’s mission in tangible, engaging way. Something that would be small enough to pack in a suitcase or a backpack without being too cumbersome.

They soon hit upon a solution: transform the ultra-sophisticated Transocean Barents drilling rig into a microscale brick model small enough to sit on an employee’s desk. They just needed someone to design and produce the brick rig. That’s when Transocean called Playwell Bricks.

Playwell Bricks designer Yvonne Strijbos started the work of translating this massive drilling rig into a custom microscale brick set. “The client wanted a lot of detail but I had to take into account the project parameters as well,” explains Yvonne. “At this scale, you simply cannot add everything, you need to leave out a lot of things to get the general feel of the model.”

Knowing which things to leave out takes a designer’s eye and experience, and Yvonne was more than up to the task. She laughs when she points out the lifeboats are actually carrot pieces. When standard solutions wouldn’t work, she thought outside the box and found the perfect solution, albeit an unexpected one.

If you’d like to commission your own custom Playwell Bricks set, whether it be for an employee gift, a milestone celebration, or even client appreciation, contact us today! Our team of world-class designers will work with your ideas, budget, and gifting goals to help you build your dreams.