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LEGO DOTS for Arts & Crafts Coming!

by Thita (admin) on January 30, 2020

A couple of days ago, LEGO announced a new theme called LEGO DOTS. The theme is basically a new arts and crafts building concept, all about creating patterns and mosaics using small LEGO tiles and decorated elements. Below is the press-release, with all the information, pictures, and an interesting introductory video by the designers. Check it out, and let’s discuss!

CAMILLE WALALA INSTALLATION TEASES NEW LEGO ARTS AND CRAFTS BUILDING CONCEPT

Designer unveils ‘HOUSE OF DOTS’ – a five-room interactive house with an 8ft slide built with the help of 180 children and a group of passionate LEGO adult fans – to introduce new LEGO DOTS

London, January 27, 2020: Artist Camille Walala today unveiled her most interactive work to date at Coal Drops Yard in London’s Kings Cross to introduce the entirely new 2D tile play concept from the LEGO Group – LEGO DOTS.

Born in France, based in East London, and working worldwide, Camille Walala is an artist who takes joy seriously. Known for ambitious and large-scale interventions in public spaces from Mayfair to Mauritius, she uses the man-made landscape as a platform for disseminating positivity. Her work encompasses full-facade murals, immersive 3D installations, street art, interiors, and set design – characterized by a fusion of bold colors and playful geometric patterns. Camille finds inspiration in community and collaboration, and the power or color and pattern to transform atmospheres, elevate moods and spark positivity.

To tease the new product, Walala was invited to bring LEGO DOTS to life in a free public art installation that celebrates their shared values of creativity, self-expression and accessibility, expressed through the vibrant colors and bold geometric patterns of both the new product and her own signature work.

The result is HOUSE OF DOTS: a fantastical house comprising five rooms spread over eight shipping containers, in which everything from the walls and floors to the rugs, frames, and furniture has been customized in a mashup of LEGO DOTS and Walala’s distinctive patterns and colors.

Playful and immersive, HOUSE OF DOTS invites people to journey through a living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and finally a unique DOTS DISCO room designed to celebrate self-expression and let the body flow freely with DOTS disco moves to a custom playlist from Ele Beattie. While they explore the space, guests are encouraged to get involved by designing their own patterns and bracelets – and even take elements away with them ahead of the release of LEGO DOTS in March 2020. If that weren’t enough, guests can exit via an 8ft slide down the side of the installation.

Camille Walala, artist, says: “It’s a joy to create a fun space where kids and adults can spontaneously express their creativity, make something beautiful and show off who they are. HOUSE OF DOTS captures all the exuberance and playfulness that people know me for, with something extra special: the chance to let your imagination go wild and create your own work of art. Oh, and a slide.”

LEGO DOTS taps into the arts and crafts space by using a 2D tile-based play concept that offers children a creative canvas for self-expression. Based on multiple shapes and colorful tiles, it is supported by an exciting portfolio that ranges from wearables to room décor with surfaces designed for individual customization and self-expression. To excite young creatives even more, over thirty mood tiles are also being introduced, including facial expressions, music note, cosmic planet, star night, paw prints, and a rainbow pooh – and many more.

Being based on the LEGO System in Play, there are limitless ways children can DOT their world, taking all elements apart and redesigning again to help build their creative flair and confidence.

Lena Dixen, Senior Vice President and Head of Product and Marketing Development at the LEGO Group, says about the collaboration with Camille Walala: “We’re extremely excited to introduce LEGO DOTS as a new arts and crafts building concept giving children a creative canvas for social, self-expressive play with endless, ever-changing patterns, colors and designs. As someone who epitomizes how confidence in your creativity can have a tremendous impact, Camille was perfect to collaborate with to announce it to the world. She has created something extraordinary and immensely fun that we can’t wait for our fans to explore and be inspired by.”

When creating LEGO DOTS, LEGO designers were inspired by internal research showing that kids are increasingly looking to shape their creative confidence through more personalized forms of play where they can explore freely and express themselves through their own designs. This particular insight draws on a quantitative study conducted with 10,800 parents and 7,200 children across the US, China, and Germany, and among the participants a total of 21,600 play observations were mapped out and used to identify the relevance and concept direction of DOTS.

The specific DOTS product development phase has since been further informed by monthly hands-on play sessions, biannual focus groups and quantitative tests across US, UK, Germany, and Denmark with more than 500 parents and kids over two years, ensuring the design development aligns to consumer input. Fans excited about this new play concept will be pleased to hear that more 2D tile-based LEGO products are in the pipeline.

HOUSE OF DOTS will remain at Coal Drops Yard January 28 – February 2 and can be visited by the public through sign-up here: HouseOfDots. Kids under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.

The new LEGO DOTS range available from March 1st, 2020 will include the following products, each of them full of LEGO tiles in beautiful colors, and even printed tiles, and decorative pieces! All the products in the first wave of sets are already listed at the LEGO DOTS section of the Online LEGO Shop,

Wearables:

Rainbow Bracelet (RRP from: £ 4,99 / $ 4,99 / € 5,99)
Funky Animals Bracelet (RRP from: £ 4,99 / $ 4,99 / € 5,99)
Dark Unicorn Bracelet (RRP from: £ 4,99 / $ 4,99 / € 5,99)
Cosmic Bracelet (RRP from: £ 4,99 / $ 4,99 / € 5,99)
Tropical Birds Bracelet (RRP from: £ 4,99 / $ 4,99 / € 5,99)

Room Décor:

Photo cubes – 3 animal cubes for picture displays (RRP: £ 12.99 / $ 14,99 / € 14,99)
Jewelry holder for e.g. rings, necklaces, bracelets (RRP: £ 12.99 / $ 14,99 / € 14,99)
Pineapple pencil holder (RRP: £ 17.99 / $ 19,99 / € 19,99)
Mini picture frame (not available in Western Europe) (RRP: $ 3,99)

Booster Bags:

Bags with raw colored and decorated tiles (RRP: £ 3,99 / $ 3,99/ € 3,99)

HOUSE OF DOTS Fun Facts:

2 million LEGO tiles used to dot the installation
800 man-hours required to dot the installation
150 square meters of DOTS structure inside the installation
180 creative children from Kings Cross Academy helped create bespoke wall installation for Camille Walala’s DOTS kitchen design
Eight passionate AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO building) helped dot the +150 square meters of Camille Walala’s detailed interior design including everything from rugs, artwork on the walls to plant pots and kitchen elements.

What do you think? How do you like the idea of LEGO DOTS? Is this a theme and building style you would be interested in? Are you planning to get any of the sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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LEGO is Running an AMA on BrickLink

by Thita (admin) on January 29, 2020

in Community News

As we discussed back in December, the LEGO Group recently acquired BrickLink, the largest online LEGO marketplace with buyers and sellers from all over the world (see: The LEGO Group Acquires BrickLink.com). There have been many questions and concerns about this change of ownership, so the LEGO Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Julia Goldin, is currently gathering feedback from the community. The special forum session will be open until the end of January. Below is the announcement, as well as the link to ask questions and read questions by other LEGO fans.

Dear BrickLink members, we hope you have had a great start to the New Year! A big thank you for all of the feedback, questions, and comments that you’ve shared on BrickLink and on other forums over the past month. We’ve been busy reading through your posts and are excited to continue to hear your feedback and questions.

In this regard, we are pleased to announce today the LEGO AMA (Ask-Me-Anything), where we would like to give you the opportunity to continue to ask questions regarding the LEGO Group’s acquisition of BrickLink, and to help us understand more about what you want out of the BrickLink platform.

You can add your questions in the thread at this special BrickLink forum section. We will update the FAQ section on an ongoing basis with your most top-of-mind questions, until the closing of the AMA on the 31st January 2020 at 9AM EST. (We encourage you to also check out the BrickLink FAQ, as some of your questions might have already been answered.)

We remain committed to creating the best possible platform and experience for adult LEGO enthusiasts whether you are a seller, buyer, a designer, or any combination of the three! We look forward to hearing from you!

In addition to gathering questions via the BrickLink forum, LEGO is also getting feedback via the LEGO Ambassador Network, so if you are part of a Recognized LEGO User Group, you can also share your thoughts via your Ambassador. We are also part of the LEGO Ambassador Network, so you’re welcome to share your thoughts in the comment section below, and I will forward them on your behalf. However, best is to ask your most burning questions at the above-linked Bricklink forum. For your convenience, I copied the current list of FAQ below:

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is the site being sold? – Jay and the BrickLink team have bold ambitions for the platform and they believe these could be best achieved together with the LEGO Group.

2. Will this have any impact on BrickLink’s independence? – Yes, and no. BrickLink will no longer be an “unofficial” marketplace and will need to be conscious of the fact that it is representing the LEGO brand in a much more direct way than before. However, BrickLink’s target audience (AFOLs) will remain unchanged, and the BrickLink brand itself will remain intact.

3. Will BrickLink still be based in the United States? – Yes. BrickLink is currently based in Irvine, California and there are no immediate plans to move the company.

4. What changes does the LEGO Group have in store for the platform? – BrickLink was acquired by the LEGO Group because it is interested in strengthening the connection with the AFOL community and finding new ways of doing this through improvements to existing functions on the platform. What exactly those improvements will be will become clearer once the deal has been finalized. However, the LEGO Group is keen to make sure that the platform develops in collaboration with the community – it has acknowledged that BrickLink already serves its users very well and is not planning to make changes straight away.

5. Will transaction fees increase going forward? – There are no plans to increase transaction fees at the moment.

6. Will anything change for BrickLink sellers? – The LEGO Group has been clear that it won’t interfere with how sellers operate or the healthy competition that exists in the marketplace. It sees BrickLink as a complementary service to its own parts selling services.

7. What about Studio and LEGO Digital Designer (LDD)? What will happen with the two digital building experiences since they’re quite similar? – The LEGO Group is planning to support and evolve Studio and will review opportunities for both services following the closing of the deal.

8. We can no longer click into Buyer names. Is this permanent, due to privacy issues? – We made this change to protect the privacy of BrickLink users. However, we plan to add some information for both buyers and sellers such as the last login and a summary of recent address changes.

9. What will happen with our current volunteer admins? – Our volunteer admins will continue to be crucial to the BrickLink community and to the catalog. We are currently working to move them over to the new ‘Community Experts Program’.

10. How can I completely delete my profile? – Send a ticket to the Help Desk asking to delete your BrickLink account and all your personal data. We will work with you to complete this process. If you simply wish to unregister your account, click here.

11. How will you be using my data? – Your data will be used only in accordance with the Privacy Policy and your personal settings. It will not be shared with any other entities, including the LEGO Group, without express consent.

12. Is BrickLink a subsidiary of the LEGO Group, or actually folded into it? – BrickLink is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LEGO Group and will be managed as a stand-alone team. It will continue to be based in Irvine CA.

13. Why are modified parts no longer allowed? – Modified parts may consist of material that may not meet LEGO quality and product safety standards. In addition, printed designs may also have some legal implications related to intellectual property rights or display content incompatible with the LEGO brand.

14. Will the LEGO Group start directly providing set inventories so they no longer have to be created manually by volunteers? – Moving forward the LEGO Group will supply data to help the catalog admin team update the catalog faster and more accurately. However, we will continue to need the community to help build and maintain the catalog.

What do you think? Do you have any questions or concerns about LEGO’s acquisition of the largest LEGO marketplace? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!