Arts & Culture

Flowers that never die: These Texas collectors love LEGO

KERA | By Galilee Abdullah

Published February 8, 2023 at 10:42 AM CST

Andrew Schmidt has 25 bonsai trees around his house. He says it's a meditative experience for him to work on both bonsai and LEGO.

Andrew Schmidt first experimented with bonsai, the miniature trees, 20 years ago. Today he tends 25 trees around his house in Fort Worth.

But he's also a fan and collector of other plants...plastic ones. He's created orchids, bonsai and whole flower bouquets - all made of LEGO.

"For people who might think they're not interested in toys, this is a nice way to show that it's a creative outlet first and it's made out of the same plastic that other toys are made out of," he said. "But there is that sense of invitation to be creative."

Andrew Schmidt says his daughters made these LEGO trees themselves. He says it's a creative way to connect with his family.

The LEGO botanical collection launched in 2021, during the pandemic. Schmidt has all the sets. He's also a member of the Dallas Fort Worth LEGO Usersgroup.

"What I appreciate about the botanicals is not only are they permanent blooms indoors, especially this time of year when things are closing down a bit with the real plants," he said. "But they also were a way to reinforce that LEGO is for everybody."

Schmidt began collecting LEGO as a child. He says working on bonsai and building LEGO are actually similar.

"I think of them both as a very meditative experience, they take patience and artistry and planning and what I like about both of them is you can make mistakes and experiment," he said. "And if something doesn't work you can try again, and so they're very forgiving hobbies in that way."

Lori Schmidt says the LEGO botanical sets fit in beautifully with the rest of the interior décor of their home.

Schmidt's wife Lori said she doesn't really work on LEGOs. But she loves how the botanical sets fit into their home. She sees them as art.

"I think they're so sophisticated looking, and I don't mind the botanical sets being incorporated all over the house," she said. "I think they bring sort of a nice richness and texture to the design of our home."

That element of interior décor may explain the botanical sets' popularity, said Brian Williams, who wrote "The LEGO Lighting Book." They've been very successful, he said.

"At least the store managers that I know are saying they're moving very quickly," he said. "It reaches a different strap of society, a different person who maybe wasn't really into LEGO."

John Wayne Daugherty has three botanical LEGO sets in his work office and says people are intrigued by them all the time.

Another reason they're popular? They actually look real. John Wayne Daugherty of The Colony has three botanical sets.

"It so much imitates real life, in the scale of it, and then just the creativeness that the designers have undertaken in trying to take various LEGO elements and put them together in a certain way with a certain color to try to mimic real life," he said.

Jocelyn Tiner of Carrollton has two of every botanical set. She says even people who don't collect other kinds of LEGO are attracted to them.