Once upon a time, nestled close to the porch of an A-Frame cabin surrounded by a lush garden, there stood a mushroom. And not any mushroom, but a huge fly agaric. Its red cap was peeking out behind blades of grass and flowers towering like forests. And there, two Forest Elves built their home. They carved the mushroom just enough to keep it alive, with two small, cozy rooms inside…

This is how we start our story, for today we celebrate one of the most versatile LEGO builders out there—Jonas Kramm. His Mushroom House will be available for pre-order on June 6th from the BrickLink Designer Program (BDP).

This set (provided by BrickLink) was the perfect opportunity to ask Jonas a few questions about himself and his builds. But first, I’ll give you some history about him and his amazing creations.

How It All Started

Jonas’ passion for the brick was ignited by the mystic powers of the Duplo, not once but twice. The first time was when he was a toddler, not even the size of a Hobbit. Then he discovered LEGO System elements and the whole new world that comes with them. On his Flickr account, one can find his earliest documented MOC from 2009. It’s a brick-built motorbike, and even after 15 years, it still looks fantastic.

Iron Building

Time passed, and he grew his skills bigger and faster, just like the spring grass. And then, grass was what he received—a hundred Duplo grass pieces, to be exact. It was in his second Iron Builder round where he was defending his title against the one and only Eero Okkonen where they got the Duplo pieces as a seed part to be used as many ways possible.

Here are some of the builds Jonas produced for that Iron Builder round:

I really recommend checking all three rounds where Jonas was victorious and created a ton of beautiful MOCs:

Rooms for Creativity

Jonas isn’t only a Duplo builder. He is a true master when it comes to creating small worlds. His room dioramas are Krammed (get it!?) with details where NPU abounds (Nice Parts Usage)! Here are just a few of his detailed rooms you can click to enlarge:

Lord of the Parts

And then there’s his passion for The Lord Of the Rings. We have already covered some of them in previous articles here on BrickNerd, but I don’t think any of us can get enough of those detailed scenes from the movies we all love. Here are just a few of his scenes that capture the magic of the movies:

The Mushroom House

So hopefully now you can see that when I was offered the Mushroom House set ahead of BrickLink’s crowdfunding this week, I was thrilled for a couple of reasons: First, because Jonas is one of my favorite LEGO builders; second, the set is so beautifully designed with popping colors and such fun theme—I just love it; and finally, I’m from Bulgaria and I can’t order the set directly as BrickLink does not ship to Bulgaria yet from the BDP program. Receiving it on behalf of BrickNerd was a real treat, indeed!

I did have a little situation because the set was held at Customs for more than 10 days (probably because they needed some extra inspections because of the mushroom thing… and showing why perhaps BrickLink doesn’t ship to Bulgaria yet), but I finally got it! In the last few years, I have only built a handful of sets because I love to create my own things, but from time to time, I appreciate some building from instructions. And coming from Jonas, this set was a treat to build.

It all starts with a fun snail packed with colorful flowers and fruits. I particularly like the cherries and the snail itself. The inspiration for the cute crawler is the original one Jonas built for the Summer Joust 2020 contest. (Actually, Summer Joust 2024 just started on June 1st, so you can join the group on Flickr and start building!)

From there, you start to build the base of the Mushroom House. The most satisfying thing to me was the front stairs, which are integrated nicely. We have rocks and pebbles here and there and a little bit of tic-tac-toe hidden in the base (I’ll leave that secret for you to discover).

The garden around the house is full of details, and that water pump is something else. (I hope it doesn’t bite!)

The house itself is bigger than I thought it would be. And kudos to Jonas for making the white mushroom spots from round road signs and round tiles—they work so well. Sometimes NPU can be as simple as a circle.

The interior is also magical, with colorful rugs on each floor. There is a bookshelf integrated into one of the walls, which was surprising and a nice touch. The whole build is a nice experience, and nothing feels repetitive. And check out that beautiful painting!

There is only one annoying thing about this set, and it’s not part of the design or the features. It’s because of the tolerances on part 15279 - Plant Grass Stem. It’s a bit hard to use the anti-stud at the base because almost anything will fall off on the slightest touch—the part doesn’t have enough clutch.

This is important because there are two things that the grass stems hold—the cherries (which you can lose easily while riding that snail) and the big flower next to the house. I have a few of those parts from an older set from back in 2016, and I found they work better than the new ones, so I just replaced them.

Customizing Your Home

Ah, and there was one thing that I was missing in the set—a villain! Someone who will disturb the elves’ peace every now and then, so naturally, I built one out of parts from the set. I took the smaller mushroom and turned it into a proper warrior!

As you can tell from this quick look at the Mushroom House, it is a fantastic set that can be both displayed and played with. It’s magical, colorful and fun to build. I can imagine a whole LEGO theme with these creatures and elves and would love to see more of it.

You can pre-order the Bricklink Designer Program sets starting on June 6th at 8 AM PDT. I added a time zone check because the models are sure to go fast.

But what excited me more than building the Mushroom House was having an excuse to chat with Jonas. Please enjoy the following interview because I sure did.

A Chat with Jonas Kramm

Dan: Hey Jonas, thanks for taking the time to chat with me, and congrats on making your build into a real product! Right off the bat, I have to ask: is there anything hidden in the Mushroom House, like a reference or something else? That carrot top looks suspicious!

Jonas: The only thing I’ve hidden in the mushroom house are the many little details that hopefully plant the seeds for your own stories. 😉

One specific detail is the acorns under the little mushroom which are a reference to the acorn hats of the LEGO Forest Elves from the Collectable Minifigure Series. That figure helped start the story of the Mushroom House in 2022.

Dan: It seems that you really like the little forest creatures. Do you have plans on expanding this Tiny World of Wonders, maybe with a hut made of pebbles or anything else fun like that?

Jonas: It’s great to hear how the Tiny World of Wonders already sparks new creative ideas in your head! And yes, the Mushroom Village will hopefully grow in BDP Series 5. I submitted a new model that features many ideas I couldn’t include with the Mushroom House, like a Mushroom Windmill! If you want to see that as a set, too, you can vote for it starting June 3rd.

Dan: Oh wow! I did not expect that. A Mushroom Windmill sounds awesome—you’ve already got my vote! It would be nice to see the interior of such a magical addition. And speaking of interiors, can we expect more of your brick rooms in the future?

Jonas: For now, there are no rooms planned, but I really liked the size of the models and the everyday objects I got to recreate. So maybe I will revive this project one day.

Dan: Most of the time, you build on a smaller scale like the room interiors, but then you have some big builds like the jaw-dropping Barb’s Disappearing. Do you prefer smaller or bigger builds?

Jonas: Over the years I have tried both and have learned the advantages of the different sizes. Today, I mostly build smaller models. With a limited footprint I can better concentrate on the details and feel more inspired to try out part-intensive techniques. It is also easier to reach the point where I’m satisfied with the model and can say, “I’m done.”

These days, bigger builds mean recreating several scenes from one movie, as I did with “The Lord of the Rings” or “Jurassic Park.” These scenes aren’t physically connected, but with the black border and the presentation, they seem like part of one big project. Thanks to the size of each vignette, I can dive into different scenes and locations instead of focusing on just one.

Dan: I agree—smaller vignettes are perfect for focusing on details. So how do you usually start a build like this? Do you have the idea first, or is there a seed part that inspires the creation?

Jonas: The Iron Builder rounds tested my adaption on seed parts, so most of my recent builds started with the idea. But creative part usage is, of course, always something I try to achieve, so I often give seed parts a leading role in how the model evolves.

Something that is very new for me is the shift to building digitally as the BrickLink Designer Program requires, but I will always need the physical model in the end to be satisfied.

Dan: I can relate to that. Of course building digitally, you can have all the parts you want with more options available. And while we’re on parts, can you name one LEGO piece that you hate or you haven’t figured out yet how to use in a MOC?

Jonas: This question could reveal some shameful answers about the pieces I’ve bought—sometimes in big quantities—with the intention to use in a build… but then never getting to it. Naming them here could also lead to some unnecessary pressure, so you’ll have to wait until a future creation might reveal them.

Dan: Do you have anything you’ve wanted to build but have never got the chance or the right pieces to actually do it?

Jonas: Many ideas come to my mind, but mostly because I didn’t have the time yet. So, I’m optimistic that, step-by-step, I can make most of them happen one day.

Dan: I wish that for you! I’m curious—do you have any specific music that you like to listen to while building?

Jonas: Soundtracks of movies and games can help to delve deeper into the world that you are building but are also generally good for your ears.

Dan: Got it—you like to be “in the zone” while building. And if you could be part of the LOTR world, what type of character would you want to be?

Jonas: Coincidentally, I asked myself that question when I recently displayed at the Tolkien Tage, the biggest Middle Earth convention in Europe. Many of the visitors came in elaborately crafted costumes. While I feel mostly like a Hobbit who enjoys food and a warm home, my stature is quite the opposite of a short halfling, so I could rather go as an elf.

Dan: And finally, if you could do one more Iron Builder round and be able to pick your competitor, who would it be?

Jonas: Generally speaking, I would say that my Iron Builder days are over—I enjoy watching the battles between the current contestants who always surprise me with their ideas. But in an alternate universe, I wonder what a 1-on-1 battle with the skillful Iron Builder host Markus Rollbühler himself would have looked like…

Dan: Great choice! That would be a round that the entire AFOL community would want to watch and probably even pay for! I can only keep my fingers crossed that we can witness it someday… no pressure at all! Thank you very much for your time, Jonas! I hope more of your sets get produced from your designs.

Start Your Own Journey to the Mushroom House

This ends our interview with Jonas, though I would have loved to chat and build with him for hours. Again, you can pre-order the Bricklink Designer Program sets starting on June 6th at 8 AM PDT. There are five different fan-built sets available to choose from, including the Mushroom House.

And if you want any more NPU inspiration, you can follow Jonas on Instagram and Flickr for more amazing LEOG creations.

DISCLAIMER: This set was provided to BrickNerd by BrickLink which is owned by LEGO. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

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