‘I still get a shock every time I see myself’: insights from a LEGO lifestyle model

Ever wondered how the LEGO Group captures its lifestyle images? The face of 31215 Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers has shared a few insights into the photoshoot for the LEGO Art set...

Along with product renders and box images, almost every new LEGO set gets a series of professionally-shot in-situ photos, typically known as lifestyle images, which give an impression of what it actually looks like in the flesh. And for most of its 18+ sets targeted towards adults, the LEGO Group will bring in a model to handle, build and generally show off each product.

Redditor PrizeMinute1964 is one such model, who was hired to pose alongside this year’s 31215 Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers. She’s now shared a few rare insights into the process, including how she got involved with the shoot, where it took place and whether or not she was gifted a copy of the set.

“Honoured to be the face of the Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers set,” she wrote on the r/lego subreddit. “Art, history, and a little piece of me – all in one box. I still get a shock every time I see myself on that box.” Not every LEGO 18+ set uses lifestyle images with their model on the box, but this much is true of 31215 Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers, immortalising PrizeMinute1964 on the physical product too.

“The LEGO team told me I was chosen among several other models,” she added. “Our pictures were sent to the designer of the set, Stijn Oom, and he personally picked me. He said I was beautiful, unique, and the perfect fit as the face of the set and for his creative vision, which made me feel truly honoured to be part of this amazing project.”

The model also revealed a little bit about the dynamics of the shoot, which she says took place in Denmark – where she lives – and involved ‘a gradual process’ to get the perfect images. “While the focus was mostly on posing, I did get to interact with the build on set,” she shared. “And now I’m also building it at home, one peaceful step at a time. It was a really great experience being part of it!”

You might have wondered whether the people posing with all these LEGO sets are actually LEGO fans themselves, and while this particular model was hired through an agency (and hand-picked by the set’s designer), she says she has ‘always been a LEGO fan’. But while she’s building a copy of the set now, she had to buy it herself.

“I didn’t get the full set for free, and the one used in the shoot wasn’t mine to keep,” she explained. “I was mostly there for the photoshoot itself, but I’ve started building my own set at home – it’s been really fun! They really didn’t have to tell me to look like I love it as I loved it already by nature so not much convincing was needed!”

31215 Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers is available now. Check out our review here, in which we hailed it as a dark horse in the race for the best set of 2025.

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