LEGO 10339 Santa’s Post Office is more logical than you’d think
The LEGO Winter Village’s 10339 Santa’s Post Office is more logical than you might think, explains the designer despite the set’s fantastical nature.
The LEGO Winter Village is split into two halves, with one area of the festive location focusing on more grounded and realistic models and the other embracing the whimsical side of the holiday season. 10339 Santa’s Post Office fits squarely in the latter with the inclusion of Santa, elves as well as the precarious position of the hot air balloon’s landing pad.
There’s more logic in this model than you might expect though, relevant to the context of the model. During Skærbæk Fan Weekend last month, the designer behind 10339 Santa’s Post Office – Mary Wilson – was in attendance to discuss the process of creating the latest LEGO Winter Village model and the decisions made for the build, as reported by BrickNerd.
“If we know that it’s going to be in the North Pole, it’s going to be a post office, and there’s going to be elves, then we can go from there and ask what crazy adventures are they getting up to? What does it look like? What kind of machinery are they using? How do letters get back and forth?”
It’s these questions about the realistic functions of the model in the world of the LEGO set that decide the finer details, especially when concerning its place in relation to the rest of the Winter Village. Integrating this logic while keeping a suitably whimsical appearance is another feature that Wilson had to keep in mind during the design process
“With the shape of the house, we wanted it to be roughly a Tudor style. It fits in with a lot of the other Winter Village sets having those peaked roofs. Then I started blocking out different ways that this could be built. Not only did I draw these, but I also built a lot of copies—either digitally or physically with bricks to see what felt right.”
The images showcasing the evolution of the new Winter Village model dictate just how its fantastical but somewhat grounded design including the raised central tower came about, as well as how the balloon was determined to be integrated.
“The extra caveat was we needed a place for the hot air balloon to land, so there are a lot of different little platforms, or we were talking about the mail going down a chimney or into a chute. Once you have one part, I would tackle the next. Every single time I built through the model, I would try to make improvements, and that led us to this, this cosy little North Pole post office.”
Keeping the hot air balloon keeps this set as unique as it is compared to the rest of the Winter Village, but integrating its functionality wasn’t simple as explained by the designer. We’re also treated to a look at some alternate colours for the set, which would have had a much more festive colour scheme before the team landed on the blue and brown appearance.
10339 Santa’s Post Office is available now for £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 ahead of the holiday season and you can see what we thought of the latest addition to the LEGO Winter Village by clicking here.
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