A Central Coast college student is receiving international recognition for designing an Italian Riviera village.
"It contains three bright, colorful buildings that you'd find on the Italian Riviera," said Alex Sahli. "It has terracotta roofs, and it's on the seaside, so there's an oceanfront, with a boat, and a little plaza. It's just full of detail, and very reminiscent of Italy."
But he isn’t an architectural or engineering student. He’s just a huge Lego fan. You know, Lego, the plastic construction blocks many of us played with as kids. For some, Lego projects have turned into a lifelong passion.
Sahli has accomplished the Holy Grail of the Lego world. He created a Lego set, the Italian Riviera village, that the company liked so much that it turned into a kit now being sold worldwide.
"I've seen them (the set he designed) at quite a few Lego stores, and I've gotten pictures from family and friends all over the country, or traveling abroad, saying things like 'Hey, I was just in Barcelona, and I saw your sets'. It's been cool to see all the pictures pour in."
The 20-year-old Cal Poly San Luis Obispo computer science student said he’s loved Lego for most of his life.
"I was probably two or three. I got this old set from my mom. It was very basic. They had suggestions about what you could build, but no real instructions, and I loved it," said Sahli. "Every time I'd go visit my grandparents, I'd drag them out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, and we'd play Legos."
Some people drop the hobby as they get older. Sahli stuck with it.
Like many fans, he would buy themed sets. For adults, they get sophisticated and pricey. You can get the set from the movie Jaws, with the boat and the shark, for $149.00. For $629.00, you can get and build a Lego Eiffel Tower.
Most sets come from Lego’s design team in Denmark. However, the company has a process where people can submit ideas to be turned into sets.
"Lego Ideas is a pathway that they give you to have something you can come up with for a new set. It's a platform Lego has put out that allows fans to submit their own designs."
So, in 2021, he decided to try to design a set instead of buying and building one.
"I'm a big fan of geography and travel. At the time of designing this, I was also planning for a family trip to Italy. I was doing research, and I came across this place, and I thought this would be cool as a Lego set with all the colors and everything," Sahli said. "I pulled out my computer and started designing it."
After a few weeks of work, he had his plan. It’s a 3,251-piece Italian village. But for Lego to even consider it, it had to get 10,000 likes on a fan site.
It took a year and a half to get enough support, but it finally hit the milestone. Lego agreed to review the design and approved it in August 2024. "We worked together and redesigned some parts of it until it was fully ready to become a set," said Sahli.
Only 67 fan submissions have ever become Lego sets, but the Cal Poly student’s project is now one of them. Last month, some huge boxes showed up at Sahli’s home in Portland. If your project is selected, you get a 1% royalty on every set sold and 10 complementary sets.
"It was really cool to open them and see the sets I helped design," he said.
The set retails for $299.00. It has some special hidden elements in it. "There's a mini-figure of me, my birthday is on there, on some printed tiles, and there some other little things like lucky numbers," said Sahli.
Sahli said having his creation in stores around the world is a thrill.
"I'm just glad I was able to create something people like, and brings joy to other people," said the Cal Poly student. Sahli said it feels amazing to share his project with fellow Lego lovers worldwide.
