Bricks and Minifigs in Tyler fosters ingenuity during World Creativity and Innovation Day

Published 5:45 am Monday, April 22, 2024

World Creativity and Innovation Day at Bricks and Minifigs in Tyler on Saturday. (Jude Ratcliff/Tyler Morning Telegraph Freelance)

In celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Day, Bricks and Minifigs in Tyler hosted activities in its store, complete with a raffle and building competitions. Their goal is to promote ingenuity – one brick at a time.

“People build all kinds of different incredible things just from their own imagination,” said Jennifer Stewart, who owns Bricks and Minifigs alongside her husband Scott Stewart. “So I think Creativity and Innovation days kind of celebrates that.”

Scott added, “It’s completely interchangeable. It’s a standardized brick and standardized plate, and they’ll go together in a billion different ways.”

World Creativity and Innovation Day is observed on April 21 to raise awareness of creativity and innovation in problem solving. Originally adopted by the U.N., events at Bricks and Minifigs bring these lessons to a level that helps inspire builders and connect them to innovative ideas.

Though World Creativity and Innovation day is observed one day out of the year, Scott said every day is an opportunity to foster ingenuity.



“There’s teachable moments in there, like … if you can’t find the piece … you know it’s here, you just gotta keep looking for it.”

“It just teaches perseverance,” he added.

Several events were hosted at the store that served to inspire children and adults to flex their creativity. One of these events, a speed building competition, tasks contestants with assembling a set as quickly as possible using the instructions in a manual.

The store also made time for “minifig swapping.” Minifigures represent characters in Lego sets. Bricks and Minifigs invited individuals to bring in their own Minifigures to swap them out with other people’s figures, giving each builder a chance to fill out their collection.

“We really love the creativity that Lego brings out in people,” Jennifer said. “… just having the bricks out and accessible really inspires creativity.”

Senior Manager Davis Parkhurst adds that in his eight years of working within the Bricks and Minifigs franchise, he has personally witnessed how hobbyists are able to exercise their talent with the resources in the store.

“Sometimes I see sets come in that might not be exactly like it is in the instructions, but that’s almost more fun, because that means someone played with it and had that creativity and that innovation to build it into something new,” he said. “Maybe something better than what you saw on the box packaging.”

Bricks and Minifigs plans to host another event on May 4, commonly referred to as Star Wars Day, featuring limited edition Lego Star Wars memorabilia. The Stewarts credit the diversity in IPs as a major selling point for the franchise, giving builders a familiar starting point when entering the hobby.

“It has been phenomenally successful for us and for Lego because it’s like a diversion from Lego’s normal stuff,” Scott said. “It has brought tons of people in the demographic into Lego and something they’re passionate about. If they like flowers or gardening or whatever, you can build the set. The flowers will never die, and they look really cool.”

Bricks and Minifigs is located at 5201 S Broadway Ave., Suite 134 in Tyler. The store is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.