Years ago, when I had a manual engraving machine and made door signs, traditional name badges, and electrical box plates for a side business, my older son, Heyward, was into LEGO® kits. He, of course, built himself a car. At the same time, personalized license plates were first coming along (“vanity plates”), and I thought he should have a vanity plate for his awesome creation. So, I tried engraving “Heyward” on a brick–and be darned if it did not work. I then figured out how to fill them in, and it really looked spiffy (a 70’s word for very very nice). But on a manual machine, they were a real pain and even though I thought it to be a great idea, I knew that there was really no way to produce them economically, and the internet had not been invented as a marketing mechanism.

In 2001, my younger son Peyton had just graduated from UNC Chapel Hill and was looking for a job. At this time, we were doing those little mini-license plate keychains and made dog tags on that same manual engraving machine. We worked ham-fests, flea markets, and craft shows. I convinced him that we could probably make a little money if we bought a “real”, i.e., computerized machine while he went to technical school to get trained to make a living. As we were setting up the machine, we had to move Heyward’s old LEGO® collection to make room for our new workshop, and the old idea popped up again. I took a few of his old bricks and tried out the idea on the new machine. It was a frustrating experience, but we finally worked out the process with a bit of, what I think is, some innovative LEGO® engineering and persistence. I was ready to try the internet to see if any interest out there.

Lo and behold, I discovered that no one else–at least no one I could discover–had come up with that old idea. I discovered a whole culture of really smart, creative people previously unknown to me. Matt Gerber, the coordinator of the first BricksWest®, thought the idea of engraving on the bricks was good and I said they would make great name badges and keychains. He jumped at the idea and envisioned a contest for badge enhancement by the participants; and they seemed to really take to it.

Peyton and I went to BricksWest® in San Diego to see what the possibilities were. I was, of course, in hopes of being able to wow the LEGO corporate guys with my idea and get permission to set up a kiosk at LEGOLAND, move to California to make my fortune. That, of course, did not work out. :)

I became immersed in TLC (“The LEGO Community”) and learned of BrickFest (Arlington). Christina Hitchcock, the coordinator for the event, contacted us. She had heard how the badges were a hit, so we were commissioned to do them for her convention.

One of our very first customers was The LEGO Company. The owner and future CEO came to BrickFest as their curiosity had been piqued about all these adult fans of LEGO (AFOL) that had a convention. Peyton and I were set up there engraving bricks, and a the manager of the call center for LEGO approached us, and we came up with the idea of creating “years of service bricks” with the employee’s name and the number of years employed. Each year the employee got a new numbered years of service brick. 20 years later, we continue to do those for almost all their locations in the world. Now we do “Recognition Award Bricks” and “Years of Service Bricks” for several hundreds of companies worldwide.

As printing evolved in the early 2000’s, I thought that it would be cool to actually print on the “The Noble Brick” as AFOL’s called it. I got one of the first Direct-to-Surface printers and figured out how to print on LEGO. That opened all kinds of possibilities. For example, you could build a wall of bricks and then print photos or artwork, creating a very cool puzzle. With the evolution of UV DTS, you would have an incredibly durable item that required no frame and that doubled as a puzzle as well. And you could print full-color logos, etc., with great quality. And you could print badge bricks that became a true collectible among the now thousands of AFOLs. I am a photographer, and I began to see that this is a whole new print media. I love maps and began printing them onto LEGO bricks and tiles. Even sold a few of my abstract photos of drying biosolids at LEGO Conventions which had grown enormously in size. The badges that we first created in 2002 are now a staple of almost all LEGO conventions held to this day. We have done baptisms, weddings, graduations, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, and all kinds of special occasion events.

I must say it has been fun. To this day, the business is still going strong, and we have sold items to practically every state in the Union, and to over 25 countries.

Tommy Armstrong, Founder and Owner

Tracy Stone, LIC (Lady in Charge)