LEGO designer reveals secrets behind 10280 Flower Bouquet

Senior LEGO Designer Anderson Grubb has revealed how 10280 Flower Bouquet blossomed into an official Botanical Collection set.

In a designer video published on the LEGO YouTube channel, Anderson explains how the collection of brick-built flowers came together – and the help he had from within the LEGO Group.

“I have been working on this set for several months, experimenting with what flowers looked best built in LEGO,” he says. “It’s a wonderful creative challenge to figure out how to take such organic shapes and use LEGO pieces to recreate them.

“I also spent a lot of time trying out different colour palettes and different arrangements of flowers, and that was exactly when our flower consultant and expert Astrid came in to help.”

Astrid Sundorf Christensen is a LEGO Apprentice who’s spent a lot of time building flowers – many of which you’ll find dotted around LEGO HQ in Billund. “Working with Astrid was a real treat,” Anderson says. “Her flower bouquets that she’s built for LEGO offices and gifts within the company can be found everywhere, and so to finally meet the person who’s been building all these inspirational models that you can see coming into the LEGO offices was just wonderful.”

The final assortment includes three roses, a sprig of lavender, two daisies, a California poppy, two snapdragons and an aster flower. Anderson’s favourite is the poppy, which is the state flower of his former home, California.

And as you’ll know from our review of 10280 Flower Bouquet, those flowers are packed with fun techniques and interesting part usages – including pterodactyl wings standing in for rose flowers and robot heads used in the snapdragons.

However, it’s the car bonnet and roof pieces used to assemble the roses that really stands out to Anderson. “I don’t think anyone would have imagined when they designed those pieces that we’d be using them to make flowers,” he says.

This may not be the only assortment of LEGO flowers we see on shelves – at least if Astrid has anything to do with it. “I would like to keep building flowers for some time,” she says. “I’ve been doing them for so long and I keep getting ideas for new flowers when I walk past them. If I walk by a house with pretty flowers in the garden I’m always inspired to build new ones.”

Check out our full review of 10280 Flower Bouquet here. Both sets in the Botanical Collection, including 10281 Bonsai Tree, will launch on January 1, 2021 for £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99.

To support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com using our affiliate links.