Jamie Berard’s LEGO work has a common thread: making room for other builders
From LEGO Masters to architectural models and live challenges, a look at the designer’s public work beyond the judging table.
The designer behind a familiar television face
LEGO Masters viewers know Jamie Berard as a judge, but the job description behind that role reaches well beyond television. LEGO’s official show biography identifies him as a Senior Design Manager and Creative Lead with responsibility for Icons, Architecture and other products aimed at older builders.
That background offers a useful way to understand his place in the hobby. A finished model must communicate an idea, but a commercial building set also needs to give someone else an enjoyable route to making it. The builder receiving the box is part of the design problem.
A landmark is also a building experience
The Colosseum instructions make that distinction especially clear. In the design-team introduction, Berard explains the reasons for choosing the subject, including its architectural importance and requests from fans. Designer Rok Žgalin Kobe describes beginning with the curved outer walls and keeping the scale established at that stage.
The credits matter: Berard is identified as design lead, while Kobe is the model’s designer. This is a team story. For fans interested in how sets come together, those introductory pages are worth reading before the first numbered step. They explain decisions that the finished object cannot explain on its own.
Helping a family turn an idea into bricks
A different example appeared in LEGO’s November 2017 announcement of a one-night LEGO House experience with Airbnb. Berard was named as the host who would help the winning family build its own idea. The invitation asked entrants to imagine what they would create together with an unlimited supply of bricks.
That was a particular historical competition, not an accommodation offer available today. Its appeal was the combination of access and encouragement: the family’s idea supplied the purpose, while an experienced builder supplied guidance. It is a more personal version of the relationship between designer and builder.
The community connection extends beyond one show
LEGO’s report on LEGO CON 2022 records Berard and fellow LEGO Masters judge Matthew Ashton hosting a live building challenge with contestants from different countries. Their brief was a playful cake, a subject broad enough to invite very different interpretations.
Taken together, these examples suggest why a designer can become an effective guide for the wider community. Expertise is useful when it helps another person make a choice or express an idea. Watching a familiar judge through that lens adds another reason to enjoy LEGO Masters: the finished creations are also evidence of people learning how to communicate with bricks.
Reporting checked September 28, 2026. Plans and programs can change; follow the linked organizations for current information.