These new mosaic-style interpretations of the Hogwarts house crests, created with over 4000 pieces of LEGO, should inspire master builders and Harry Potter fans alike. Created by LEGO designer Kitt Kossmann, the four house crests and the main Hogwarts school crest have been reimagined as 2D wall art, now available to purchase from LEGO’s official website for you to build yourself.
These special sets come alongside a LEGO Art soundtrack to listen to as you build, featuring creatives from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films. Fans can scan a special QR code on their sets to discover this. Speakers include the graphic design team MinaLima, Creative Director Alan Gilmore and Head Prop Maker Pierre Bohanna, who were all deeply involved in the creative nuances of the wizarding world that you see in every movie.
Listen to a clip of the soundtrack here, or you can even listen to the full audio for free on LEGO’s official website.
Designer Kitt Kossmann, who also speaks on the LEGO Art soundtrack, spoke to us about the meticulous process working on these special Wizarding World designs.
‘I was already a big Harry Potter fan when I was given the task to create the four house crests and the ultimate Hogwarts crest,’ she said. ‘My children grew up with Harry Potter and I have read the books several times. The movies are our family’s go-to entertainment whenever we fell like having a movie marathon.’
And how did Kitt acquire the stoic patience to create such detailed interpretations of these iconic Harry Potter symbols?
‘I don´t really see it as patience because I hardly ever get bored by making LEGO ART,’ Kitt told us. ‘I have a picture inside my head of what I want to accomplish and if I can´t achieve that I get a bit frustrated. I pretty much work with pixels in the same way as when I paint a painting and it is important to step away from the image occasionally, to get the full picture. It is very easy to fall in love with small details and forget about the rest.’
‘It took me about 4 months from when I started the task to when I had finished all the models.’
As for each individual crest, Kitt said she found the Hufflepuff badger the biggest challenge of the four.
’Surprisingly, the badger in the Hufflepuff crest turned out to be quite a challenge. It was very hard to get the face, the very low body, and the tail right within the pixels I had available. My first attempts look like a dog and it took several days, before I got it right!’
Coincidentally, Kitt considers herself a Hufflepuff (‘I am a dedicated, friendly, caring, and emphatic person’) but loved working on the execution of all four houses.
‘My favorite part of the project was when I had to experiment with different variations of the house crests to find an execution that felt modern but still had all the right content to be recognised immediately as Harry Potter House Crests.’
‘All houses are equally important, and they need each other.’
We couldn’t agree more.