Artist Camille Walala unveiled her interactive work at Coal Drops Yard in London’s Kings Cross to introduce the new 2D play concept from the LEGO Group – LEGO® DOTS.
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 colours and bold geometric patterns of both the new product and her 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 customised in a mashup of LEGO DOTS and Walala’s distinctive patterns and colours.
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 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 colourful tiles, it is supported by an exciting portfolio that ranges from wearables to room décor with surfaces designed for individual customisation and self-expression. To excite young creatives even more, over thirty mood tiles are also being introduced, incl. 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, colours and designs. As someone who epitomises 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 personalised 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 the 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.
The HOUSE OF DOTS has been delivered and produced by XYZ and will remain at Coal Drops Yard January 28th – February 2nd and can be visited by the public through sign-up here: https://houseofdots.eventbrite.co.uk. Kids under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.
