Building flowers from bricks is the basis of the LEGO Botanicals collection, as well as the activation that LEGO is running in Shanghai this October. At the LEGO Bloom Exhibition, the product plays several roles: it forms an installation that attracts the attention of passers-by, serves as a material for artists and gives visitors the opportunity to try building for themselves.
The most visible part of the project, created by Our LEGO Agency, is Botanical Wave. More than 380,000 hand-built flowers form a wave approximately 30 metres long, covering an area of 800 square metres. It is installed alongside a former oil tank at the Tank Shanghai art centre on the West Bund. Its size and location make it noticeable beyond the exhibition itself, while a closer look clearly reveals what it is made of.
For the brand, however, the area where visitors can sit down and build something is equally important. In the Where Blooms Begin space, visitors make their own flower, then scan it and add it to a shared digital landscape. Their creations appear on a screen surrounding the space and move together with flowers made by other participants. The outdoor installation was built in advance for the exhibition, while the digital display is expanded by visitors throughout their visit.
Here, technology extends the physical activity: what the visitor has just made becomes part of the exhibition. The invitation to participate is therefore directly linked to the product and how it is used. The brand gets an opportunity to present the collection through time spent with the bricks, alongside completed works that demonstrate possible results.
The exhibition also includes 18 artworks in which artists and adult fans of LEGO bricks combine botanical elements with other materials. This section expands the collection’s creative possibilities, while Bloom Gallery, featuring 18 arrangements displayed in everyday settings, is closer to its use in the home. Visitors can therefore see both experimental works and simpler ideas for their own spaces.
A temporary store selling botanical sets operates alongside the exhibition. Purchasing thus follows on from viewing and trying the product, allowing the activation to connect promotion of the collection with sales at the same location.
