In an exciting milestone for young Lego enthusiasts, 20-year-old Alex Sahli, a recent graduate from Grant High School in Portland, has seen his creation, The Italian Riviera, come to life as part of the latest Lego Ideas set. This colorful tribute to Italy’s picturesque coastal villages just went on sale, captivating fans around the world.
The Italian Riviera set boasts nearly 3,300 pieces and features three intricately designed buildings with removable roofs, alongside vibrant scenes depicting daily life, including a charming gelato shop and a bustling fish market. Priced at $299.99, it combines both beauty and creativity, encapsulating the essence of Italy’s coastal culture.
To celebrate the launch, Sahli hosted a signing event on Thursday at the Washington Square Mall Lego Store, marking a pivotal moment in his journey as a young artist. “It was pretty unexpected,” he shared. “I thought this would make a good set, but I had some doubts about whether they’d actually pick it. It’s very, very rare to get a set approved; it’s a long process, and it usually doesn’t work out.”
Originally, Sahli submitted The Italian Riviera to the Lego Ideas platform in 2022 at the age of 17. This innovative website invites Lego fans to submit their own unique builds for potential consideration. Each year, thousands of projects are shared, with those receiving over 10,000 votes being evaluated by Lego’s official team. However, only a select few projects are endorsed each year to become official Lego sets.
Since the platform’s launch in 2008, merely around 80 sets have made it to production. Sahli’s project became one of only two selected in August 2024, a testament to its appeal and uniqueness after it caught the attention of Lego’s judges in a promotional video announcement.
The Italian Riviera marked Sahli’s fourth submission to achieve the coveted 10,000-supporter threshold, yet it is the first of his designs to be manufactured as an official set. Reflecting on his lifelong passion for Lego, Sahli remarked, “I’ve been a Lego fan almost my entire life. When I was a kid, I got a box of Lego bricks, and soon after, I received my first real set. I was hooked.”
Sahli’s inspiration for the set stemmed from a family trip to Europe as he researched various Italian locales. “I thought that all the fun colors and the stories and the kind of chaotic atmosphere and the fun angles … would translate really well into Lego and make for a good set,” he explained.
Using Stud.io, a Lego-compatible design software, he meticulously created and rendered the original model. “It’s basically like Lego CAD software,” he noted. “It comes with a full catalog of parts; you can create anything you want—even photorealistic renderings and instructions.”
The design process took over a year to refine, resulting in a finalized set that includes personal touches, such as a mini-figure version of Sahli himself. As part of his recognition, he received 10 complimentary copies of The Italian Riviera and will earn 1% of the profits from global sales.
Currently, Sahli is studying computer science at Cal Poly, where he identifies parallels between coding and Lego building. “There’s a lot of overlap, I think, even though one’s just coding and one’s building,” he explained. Eager to continue his creative journey, he is presently working on a Lego diorama of a coral reef for Stanford University. “I’m just excited to keep building,” he concluded.
image source from：oregonlive
