LEGO Ideas 21346 Family Tree designers discuss the set’s growth

The development of 21346 Family Tree saw the LEGO Ideas set go through a number of changes as the build evolved and grew.

A new LEGO Ideas set for 2024 was recently officially revealed, with 21346 Family Tree due to launch on February 1, priced at £79.99 / $79.99 / €89.99. The upcoming model is based on an original concept by fan designer Ivan Guerrero, who won a 2022 contest hosted in partnership with Target.

21346 Family Tree is a 1,040-piece that comes with multiple customisable elements such as a toy plane and kite, multiple bird boxes and birds, a butterfly, binoculars, roller skates, flower elements and a magnifying glass. While the finished LEGO Ideas set appears to be surprisingly accurate to its source material, the build did go through a number of changes and continued to evolve during the development process.

In a recent fan media roundtable, Brick Fanatics had the chance to chat with the LEGO Ideas team behind 21346 Family Tree and the set’s original designer, Ivan Guerrero. One notable update for the build are the 16 photo holders included with the model, which have replaced the picture frame elements seen in Ivan’s submission.

“The photo holder 2×2 plate is actually a new element that we had already in the portfolio,” said LEGO Ideas designer Laura Perron. “It was designed and production-ready, but it wasn’t being used in any sets at that point. So I knew of this piece and I thought it would be a great fit for this set.”

“Not only does it function as a paper holder, but it also helps expand what you can put in it. For instance, you could put a ticket stub or a sticky note or a little drawing – it just gives you more options for the type of family mementos that you can display with this build.”

Ivan himself was closely involved with the LEGO Ideas team during the development of 21346 Family Tree and was actively encouraged to share his thoughts and suggestions as the set grew and changed.

“The team was really great to work with,” said Ivan. “There was a lot of collaboration and I really enjoyed sharing my ideas and thoughts. I think I may have actually over-shared though! This is the third project that I got to work on for LEGO Ideas and each has been a very different learning experience.”

“Was there honestly anything that I pushed for?” Ivan continued. “Well, the butterfly was one. Jordan (Scott – LEGO Ideas Design Manager) actually came up with the idea for including a Filipino butterfly and I zeroed in on the species to use (Graphium idaeoides). There was also a purple yam piece, another nod to the Philippines, which is a traditional dessert. I thought it would be a nice little Easter egg to include too.”

As well as references to his own country, Ivan’s original model expanded further when the LEGO Ideas team came up with a way to store all of the set’s various accessories. Laura Perron discussed how that happened and what the thinking was behind the inclusion of a hidden storage compartment.

“We started off by building up the base of the original submission,” said Laura. “I think, Jordan suggested, could we potentially make it bigger? Once we started adding more pieces onto the model, we had the idea to include extra flowers so that you could change the colour scheme according to the season, as well as more accessories to let builders customise it however they liked.”

“That then prompted the question – where do we put all these things? It would be really nice if we could store all of these items in one location. So that’s kind of what led to, okay, how can we lift up the base so that that there can be a storage compartment? Maybe you’re not using all of the photo holders, or maybe you have extra pictures you want to put in there.”

Fully explore everything 21346 Family Tree has to offer when the LEGO Ideas build is released on February 1 for £79.99 / $79.99 / €89.99 and pre-orders for the set are now open.

Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links. Thank you!