An playful installation celebrating LEGO’s Botanical Collection.
It’s Nice That partnered with LEGO to create The LEGO Piece Garden – a playful installation that fostered creativity and calm at London Design Festival 2023.
I worked as a senior creative and art director with the It’s Nice That team, developing the concept and creative direction of the event, ensuring it ran cohesively across the user experience, graphic design, set design, and programming.
My Role: Senior Creative, Art Direction, Artist Commissioning
Studio: It’s Nice That
Client: LEGO
The LEGO Piece Garden invited people to escape the busy city and reconnect with their creativity, all the while showcasing the power of LEGO as a mindful creative tool.
Visitors were invited to take part in a playful workshop and build their own custom LEGO flower creations. These would then live on the walls of the space in our collaborative, interactive flower wall.
We designed the nature-filled space to feel calming and full of creative potential – as if stepping into somewhere between an artist’s studio and a community garden. Working with set designer Alice Helps, it was created using a combination of moss, real flowers, and pieces taken from the LEGO Botanicals Collection.
We crafted an approach to the main workshop that was approachable, accessible and grounded in play theory. This allowed a wide range of visitors to take part, from children to LEGO enthusiasts to curious passersby.
On arrival, visitors were handed a LEGO stem and a prompt card containing a playful description of a fantasy flower. They were invited to take a seat and bring their creations to life using LEGO petals and leaves, adding them to the LEGO flower wall.
We hosted two artists-in-residence throughout the installation – local creatives Alec Doherty and Charlotte Mei.
They each set up a studio space in The LEGO Piece Garden where they created a series of botanical-themed artworks using LEGO, as well as delivered a programme of workshops to inspire LDF’s creative community.
Their bold, bright and often-playful styles made them the perfect artists to work in the medium, and their presence in the garden brought a buzz of creativity.
Working with It’s Nice That’s team and graphic designer Ciarán Birch, we developed an identity for the event that spoke to its botanical and playful themes, as well as aligning with both the LEGO and It’s Nice That’s brands.
The one-off logomark nodded to natural forms and plants, and the custom floral print referenced the pixelated effect of circular LEGO Art pieces used by our artists-in-residence.
The identity was wrapped around the exterior of the building, ensuring our space stood out on East London’s Shoreditch High Street. The graphic language then carried through inside the space, from floral window decals to artwork captions, signage and posters.
The activation welcomed over 5,500 visitors over its 10-day opening, with each visitor creating their very own unique botanical invention, showcasing the power of LEGO as a mindful creative tool.
The LEGO Piece Garden was featured in Dezeen, The Times, and Metro, and was Highly Commended for Best Use of Experiential at the 2024 Campaign UK Media Awards.