Product Design graduate George Gilliat who now works at Lego saw the launch of the latest LEGO set he designed in June.
31117 Space Shuttle Adventure, is part of the Creator 3in1 product line and was developed to celebrate 40 years of the space shuttle program, which began in 1981.
George, who graduated in 2019, wrote to lecturer Eddy Elton: “Studying Product Design at the University of Brighton taught me to always to keep the end user in mind, and I continued to channel this while developing the Space Shuttle at the LEGO Group, ensuring the model could be built by an 8-year-old child with both ease and challenges to give a sense of accomplishment, in addition to ensuring that every detail was as accurate as I knew that many children buying it will be serious space fans!”
“As with all LEGO Creator 3in1 models, the product contains two additional sets of building instructions that allow the user to take the same bricks and build two alternative models. In this case, I was super proud that I managed to carefully plan the pieces used to construct the shuttle so that they could be used to also build an iconic space rocket as well as a lunar lander. Another special thing about this product is that, due to the pandemic, most of it’s development took place whilst working from home – it’s amazing to think that a product sold all across the world was designed on my coffee table!”
The release of Space Shuttle Adventure follows the two other products that George has designed since joining the LEGO Group after graduating from the University of Brighton, 31111 Cyber Drone and 31116 Safari Wildlife Tree House, which both went on sale earlier this year. To see more details about each of the products you can find them on lego.com/shop .
George was also selected to open the first ever Lego Con, hosted by the Lego Group an event that showcased many new products, celebrated the brand, and was streamed live across the world. George was interviewed about LEGO’s ongoing collaboration with NASA, talking about various products including the 10283 Space Shuttle Discovery and 21321 International Space Station. The gathering was then joined via satellite by NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who told viewers all about NASA’s new Artemis program that will take humans back to the moon and beyond. The event was hosted by British television presenter Melvin Odoom, and American YouTube Daredevil Michelle Khare. You can rewatch the live event by visiting lego.com/legocon – with George’s interview begins around the 25-minute mark.
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