April has been a defining month for Redmond’s Forge.
What started as an experiment in community, creativity, and LEGO storytelling is rapidly becoming something much bigger; a living, breathing ecosystem of builders, collectors, families, and creators. If March was about opening the doors, April has been about understanding what happens when people walk through them.
And the answer is simple: something special.
From Exhibition to Experience
At the heart of April has been the weekly Saturday exhibition in Tinahely. Open from 10am to 4pm, free for everyone, it has become more than just a place to display LEGO sets; it’s now a place where people interact with LEGO in a way that feels personal.
Families arrive not just to look, but to immerse themselves in LEGO. Kids don’t just walk around displays, they imagine, they dream, and they create, and leave with a polybag. Parents don’t just supervise, they engage, ask questions, and reveal their own connection to LEGO.
Luke and Rose have played a huge role in shaping this atmosphere. Their build table in the common area, and their builds, from LEGO City to Friends to BrickHeadz, have become part of the exhibition itself. Visitors see real builds happening in real time, not just finished perfection behind glass. That authenticity has resonated more than anything else.
The Unexpected Retail Signal
One of the biggest insights from the March opening has been something that wasn’t originally planned for Tinahely: demand for buying LEGO.
Time and again, visitors, particularly teenagers and adult fans, asked the same question:
“Can we buy anything?”
At first, the answer was no. Redmond’s Forge was positioned as an exhibition-only space. But the signal was too strong to ignore.
By the end of March, that began to change. A small but intentional retail offering started to emerge:
- Pocket-money sets for younger builders
- Minifigures and small collectibles
- Select retired or harder-to-find sets for collectors
What became clear very quickly is that different audiences want different things:
- Kids want something they can take home immediately
- Teens want affordable, cool additions to their collections
- AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) are looking for rare, sealed, or nostalgic pieces
This has now become a core part of the Forge’s evolution, not replacing the exhibition, but enhancing it. It was always the plan for the bigger Forge in Arklow under construction, but it was fast forwarded to Tinahely.
Community Moments That Matter
April also reinforced something that can’t be manufactured: organic community connection.
There have been moments that stand out.
There have been two exhibitions, in Cork and Dun Laoghaire – A visitor recognising me and the Forge from YouTube and introducing themselves:
“Hey, are you Redmond? I’ve been watching your videos.”
A second person on a Whatsapp call where I was looking to purchase a LEGO collection, and they ask, are you on TikTok. My response yeah about 1 week. They said yes I saw you, I followed you, you have the big Star Wars Millennium Falcon, coming out of the space slug. Yes that is me. I was chuffed that the TikTok account had 1m views, 150 followers, 2000 likes. The person on the other end of the call was a young lad, a TikTok & YouTube gamer with almost 900k followers and 34 million likes. I was in the presence of a TikTok streaming gaming legend who knew about the Forge.
These moment matters. It’s validation that the content, the storytelling, and the effort to document the journey is reaching people beyond the physical space.
There have also been countless smaller interactions:
- Kids proudly showing off their builds
- Parents sharing stories of LEGO from their own childhood
- Collectors discussing sets, values, and rare finds
And importantly, people coming back.
Repeat visitors are the clearest signal that something is working.
Beyond the Forge: Exhibitions and Collaborations
April wasn’t confined to Tinahely.
Redmond’s Forge also stepped into the wider LEGO community, including supporting exhibitions like Cork Brick Con, and the event at the National Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire organised by brick.ie, and Jessica Farrell (An official LEGO master builder), Marc Verhees (aka Ziggy Starbrick), Dave Fennell (dfenz – the main admin at brick.ie), Swarek from Portarlington, and Ben Cunningham from Ben’s Bricks who probably all don’t need introductions to Irish Fans of LEGO. Who among us hasn’t bought from the latter two at exhibitions and conventions in Ireland and the UK.
These collaborations matter for two reasons:
- They connect the Forge to the wider AFOL community in Ireland
- They reinforce that this isn’t just a standalone project, it’s part of something bigger
The ambition to eventually become part of the LEGO Ambassador Network feels increasingly aligned with what is already happening organically: community-building, education, and open access to LEGO experiences.
The Digital Explosion
Perhaps the most unexpected development in April has been the rapid growth on TikTok.
Within days of launching:
- Over one million video views
- Viral performance concentrated across just a handful of videos
- Significant traffic driven directly to RedmondsForge.com
What’s particularly interesting is the mismatch between traditional metrics and real impact:
- Relatively low follower count
- But extremely high reach and engagement
This suggests something powerful: the content resonates far beyond the immediate audience.
And more importantly, it’s working as a discovery engine, introducing people to Redmond’s Forge who would never have found it otherwise.
Learning What People Actually Want
If there’s one theme that defines what the 6 weeks since opening, it’s learning.
Not theoretical learning, real, on-the-ground insights:
- People value interaction more than static displays
- Authenticity beats polish
- Kids want to build, buy, not just look
- Collectors want stories behind the sets
- Retail and exhibition are not separate, they are complementary
These insights are already shaping decisions:
- Introducing more hands-on build areas
- Expanding the retail offering
- Improving signage and storytelling around sets
- Designing the future layout of the Arklow space
Building Toward Arklow
Everything in April feeds into the bigger vision: the full Redmond’s Forge museum space in Arklow.
The Tinahely exhibition has effectively become a live prototype.
Every Saturday is a test:
- What works?
- What doesn’t?
- What do visitors naturally gravitate toward?
By the time Arklow opens, it won’t be based on guesswork, it will be built on real data, real behaviour, and real feedback.
That’s a powerful position to be in.
A Shift in Identity
In March, Redmond’s Forge could still be described as a “LEGO exhibition.” By the end of April, that description feels incomplete.
It is now:
- An exhibition
- A retail experiment
- A content engine
- A community hub
- A family-driven creative space
And perhaps most importantly, it’s becoming a brand that people recognise.
Looking Ahead
As April closes, the focus shifts to scaling what works:
- Growing the retail offering in a structured way
- Continuing to build digital reach across TikTok, YouTube, and beyond
- Strengthening ties with the LEGO and AFOL community
- Preparing for the transition to Arklow
But one thing won’t change.
The core of Redmond’s Forge is not the sets, the shelves, or even the space.
It’s the people who walk through the door, sit down, and start building.
April proved that when you create the right environment, LEGO does what it has always done best:
It brings people together.