Growing a pot of flowers at home is one thing, but what if you build it piece-by-piece?

Remember the 2009 stop-motion animated film Coraline? Chances are, if you saw it as a kid, you were terrified by the Other World that blue-haired Coraline discovered behind her apartment’s secret door.

It was this film that popped into 22-year-old Reiko Iesha’s mind the first time she saw a bouquet of flowers made out of LEGO, Denmark’s plastic construction toy.

“When I laid eyes on it, I instantly remembered the garden scene in the Other World with the moving snapdragons,” Reiko said to The Jakarta Post on May 16.

Antirrhinum flowers, known commonly as snapdragons, come alive and bite like a dragon in the stop-motion film. And it is pretty apparent why Reiko thought of them: Upon first look, this botanical LEGO set does seem like an otherworldly specimen. It is eerily similar to an actual plant; yet at the same time, more unreal than even fake plants, given its rigid and brick-like contour. It does, of course, differ from a real plant in one obvious aspect.

“With this, I have plants that I don’t need to take care of,” Reiko laughed. “It’s only meant to be a display.”

Sudden b(l)oom

Twenty-3-year-old Afifah Refiana “Ana” Dewi has been a LEGO enthusiast ever since she was young. LEGO itself has long cemented its trademark worldwide, becoming a proprietary eponym for every other similar plastic brick toy. But even though she has been collecting the LEGO flowers since last year, Ana saw a rise in their popularity only recently.

“The peak of that hype was around last Valentine’s,” Ana told the Post on May 13. The botanical collection was released in early 2021. “But since it was a bit expensive, I ended up jokingly asking people to buy me one.”

And her friend did actually buy her one as a present. “From that point onward, my interest in this collection just continues to grow,” she said.

With newer models of plants introduced this year, from orchids to succulents, more trending tweets have appeared on social media about it -- a sudden word-of-mouth adoration. Communications student Audrey Gisela is one of the consumers born out of this hype.

“There’s suddenly videos on TikTok [where] people are buying the botanical sets for Valentine’s Day,” she told the Post on May 18. So she also bought one LEGO bouquet in February.

“It just looked cute! And unlike real flowers, it can never die,” she added.

The official LEGO store in Indonesia also spoke of its increasing popularity.

“Kids, high schoolers and even mothers bought this,” Hendi (not his real name), a LEGO store staff in Cilandak Town Square, South Jakarta, told the Post on May 26. He showed the only bonsai tree and flower-bouquet editions left on the shelf. 

“We always put out a preorder form for new editions, and lately, it is filled out in no time,” he said.

A pretty garden

Halfway through the Zoom interview, Ana excitedly showed one among the vast range of LEGO plants she has owned thus far. Daisies, tulips and other bright petals beamed through the screen in various colors.

“To be honest, I still have a lot more,” she said. “There are some that I’ve bought but haven’t built since I’m out of vases.”

Ana also collected cheaper “lego” flowers that are not from the Denmark brand. The result is her own tiny garden full of (artificial) plants, albeit not having that much interest in botany.

“I wanted to be into plants and such. I did buy a small cactus once, but it took a lot to maintain. Indoor plants are harder to take care of, you know?” she said. “So it’s better to build your own LEGO flowers.”

The same thing goes for Reiko. Following her mother’s love for gardening, she tried to take care of one indoor plant, which did not last very long.

“I tried being a plant mom. After like two months, my plant died,” she laughed.

But the LEGO flower bouquet allowed her to connect with her mother’s hobby.

“Whenever I buy LEGOs I would always show it to her, and she would say ‘Oh, that’s cute.’ But because she likes gardening, she was amazed by the LEGO flowers,” Reiko explained. “And since the set didn’t come with the jar, she said, ‘Oh okay, let’s look for a jar when you’re finished building it.’” Reiko’s mother would eventually help her out.

Stress reliever

The plastic-brick flowers might be a sight to see, but the satisfaction does not just come from the spectacle. The process counts, too.

“Somehow, building LEGO sets feels therapeutic for me,” Ana said. She could spend two to three hours assembling the flowers petal-by-petal. “Since you aren’t able to think about other stuff when building them, it stops you from overthinking something. It’s such a stress reliever.”

Reiko, too, shared the same sentiment.

“I’ve always hated Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) content that consists of people whispering, but I like the one with click-clack sounds of stuff, it feels so nice. And when you assemble a LEGO, you get that sound, so it’s really enjoyable and therapeutic.”

Since this botanical set requires patience and meticulous hands, Reiko realized it should also be a social activity.

“I made this flower bouquet with [my boyfriend] Arya who is already an expert. Sometimes it gets frustrating with all the layered details each flower has, but it’s still fun anyway!” she said, adding that she takes five to six hours in the span of several days to build the bouquet.

Audrey also thought similarly, since the whole process can be tiring.

“I think I will wait before I finally finish it,” Audrey said, noting that she has had her LEGO flowers in the works for a long time now. “I promised to make it together with Reiko.  I think it’s more fun if I finish it together with a friend.”

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