After a three-years-long process, Alex Sahli’s nearly 3,300-piece Italian Riviera village creation is now being sold worldwide through Lego Ideas.
PORTLAND, Oregon — What started as a childhood love of Legos for Portland native Alex Sahli has turned into something most builders only dream about: seeing his own design for sale on store shelves.
Sahli, 20, a Grant High School graduate now studying computer science at Cal Poly, created a Lego set inspired by the villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre. His “Italian Riviera Village” design, featuring nearly 3,300 pieces, was released worldwide in August through the Lego Ideas platform.
“I’ve always liked design and problem solving,” Sahli said. “It’s just a really interesting system to work with.”
Sahli first discovered Legos as a child when he built a set his mother had from the 1980s. He says that set sparked a passion that has led him to assemble dozens of official Lego sets and design as many as 50 original creations of his own.
“That was always such a special set for me, and that’s what got me hooked,” he said.
Using Lego’s online design program, Sahli began creating what builders call MOCs, or “my own creations.” He submitted six of them to the Lego Ideas platform, where fans vote on their favorite projects. To move forward, a design must receive 10,000 votes before it’s reviewed by Lego designers.
Sahli’s Italian Riviera design, inspired by a 2022 trip to Italy, was the one that broke through.
“My inspiration for this was a trip I was about to take,” Sahli said. “I found pictures; I got really excited about it.”
After earning enough support, Sahli worked alongside Lego designers for about a year, refining his model before it was approved for release. The set features three colorful coastal buildings connected by cobbled streets.
“It’s interesting because it’s built on two different planes, so you have this one right here and then you have this one right here and they’re kind of connected at an angle in the middle,” Sahli said.
The final design also includes small surprises, like a minifigure of Sahli himself holding a camera, as well as a crab tucked into the scene holding a cone of gelato.
“It’s really fun to make it your own,” Sahli said. “Pick out all the stories from it. Figure out what it means to you. Something like this can be tied to a lot of good memories for people.”
Sahli said the entire process took about three years, from concept to store release.
“I’ve been doing it for a little while, and it’s always been a dream of mine,” he said. “How cool is that to have your own set, especially buying these sets when I was younger, seeing other people’s things, and now I could actually go in stores and buy it.”
The sets are for sale online or in official Lego stores. Sahli says he earns a small percentage for each unit sold. An employee at the Lego store at Washington Square Mall said it had several boxes for sale but added it has been selling fast because it’s from a local creator.
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