Craig was just one of countless thousands of children who grew up with Lego but little did he know at that young age that his favourite building brick would help shape his future. It was the Lego Star Wars range in 1999 that brought Craig back into the Lego fold. After constructing all of the Kits that were available, Craig repeated his childhood experience of breaking up the standard models and building his own models. This combined with his firm grasp of scale resulted in Lego creations that are among the largest to be constructed by a private individual. A collection of Star Wars books left over from Craig's days as Editor of the U.K Star Wars Fan Club magazine ensured that each model was accurate down to the last detail. Where the interior of the models are concerned, Craig's opinion is that commercially available publications are inaccurate and he set about drawing up his own blueprints.
The first major Lego model completed was the Millennium Falcon, which made an immediate impact in the Lego fan community. The unique interior design of the model was a source of considerable debate, one that continues today. Craig then turned his attention to the iconic Imperial Shuttle which has yet to be bettered in size and detail even after six years of completion. Both The Millennium Falcon and Imperial Shuttle were displayed at a number of Lego events, the most prestigious of which was a special display of fan made models at Legoland Windsor in April 2003. The next project to be tackled by Craig was a giant model of the Jawa Sandcrawler, which was impressive enough to catch the eye of the Lego Company. Craig was invited to display the model at the official Lego stand at 2007 Star Wars Celebration Europe convention at the Excel London. The public had the opportunity of entering a competition to guess the number of pieces which made up the model. Inspired by this event, Craig was further spurred on to complete his latest and most ambitious project. The Rebel Blockade Runner is certainly a model of giant proportions and will eventually be over five metres long.
It was a visit to an exhibition at the Croydon Clocktower that sparked Craig's interest in creating life sized sculptures from Lego. As Craig is a firm fan of the band Queen, Freddie Mercury was the perfect choice for the first attempt. Despite not having any formal art qualifications, Craig drew upon all of his experience as an amateur artist and model maker to create a very lifelike representation of the rock superstar. Craig entered the sculpture into the hotly contested arts and crafts competition of the 1995 International Queen Fan Club Convention, where the model won first prize. The next subject tackled by Craig was Johnny Depp in his Captain Jack Sparrow guise, which upon completion was very well received by the online Lego fan community. In December 2007, learning of an offer by Virgin radio to swap a sports car for a unique item, Craig offered the Freddie Mercury sculpture. Despite not securing the deal, Craig's offer was memorable enough to lead Virgin Radio to commission Craig to build a Lego bust of William Shatner as a prize for a well publicised competition in February 2008. The sculpture even came to the attention of Mr Shatner himself and was a point of discussion in an online interview with the actor. In March the Freddie Mercury sculpture went on to win the national Lego contest organised by the Daily Mirror, which increased Craig's profile yet further. A number of private Lego commissions followed, the most unusual request being to build a life-sized human skull. Craig earns his living as an Ebay trader and a foray into the world of selling Lego on-line led to the sale of the Freddie Mercury sculpture to the Hayward Gallery for the View Basket: Art Bought Online exhibition.
Craig's latest sculpture project is Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, which time allowing may turn out as a full bodied sculpture, rather than a bust. What does the future hold? Well, there are certainly no limits when it comes to Lego.