Tom Wiegand is building a business — out of blocks. The 41-year-old Marysville man is the inventor and owner of Paint-A-Block: plastic blocks about 3 inches long and an inch wide that stack together to create everything from benches to 5½-foot towers, reports The Times Herald.
They are kind of like a Lego,” Wiegand said.
Except they are bigger and made to be painted.
The idea was born in 2002 when Wiegand was selling candy and wrapping paper students sold to raise money for schools.
He invented the first incarnation of the Paint-A-Block, a small concrete block that kids could stack and paint, with the idea that schools could sell them to students to raise money. At the end, the schools would have something tangible to showcase with students’ artwork painted on the blocks.
Wiegand said almost all supplies used in the blocks are made in America. Many of the supplies come from Michigan, he said.
Photo by Times Herald.