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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Megan Doherty

Don't miss Brickman's incredible Floriade LEGO display

Brickman's stunning Floriade piece now on display at the Canberra Centre. Picture by Ben Calvert

LEGO's legendary Brickman, Ryan McNaught, has created an amazing Floriade display in the capital.

It's now on display at the Canberra Centre, on the glass floor on level 1 outside Zara, until October 16, adding to the national capital's celebration of spring.

The display features tiny LEGO flowers which come together to form giant one-metre-tall letter blocks spelling out FLORIADE.

It took the Brickman and his team close to 400 hours to create the work.

LEGO Masters season three contestants Fleur Watkins, from Melbourne, and Canberra's own Harrison Barnett helped to launch the display. Picture by Ben Calvert

Canberra's own Harrison Barnett from season three of LEGO Masters and fellow contestant Fleur Watkins, from Melbourne, were on hand to help launch the piece.

"It's amazing," Harrison said.

"I have always loved Floriade but I'm a chronic hayfever sufferer, so it's nice to finally see flowers without the flower coming through.

The display is made from LEGO flowers to form bigger flowers and then words. Picture by Ben Calvert

"I know a lot of my friends have been getting into LEGO by buying the botanical sets, so it's nice to see them take off properly and get everyone involved."

The exact number of bricks is yet to be disclosed, as shoppers will be asked to enter a competition to guess the number.

The winner (or closest guess) will receive two double passes to Floriade's NightFest celebrations, as well as a $500 Canberra Centre Gift Card.

Another detail from the display. Picture by Ben Calvert

Visitors can also create two LEGO flowers of their own, one to take home and one to create a LEGO Brick Community Garden next to Brickman's work.

The community-made flowers will be added to the installation each evening, which will see the piece grow just as the flowers of Floriade grow throughout the festival.

The flowers can be made inside Canberra Centre's LEGO store daily between 11am and 2pm until September 30, with staff on hand to assist if needed.

The Brickman Ryan McNaught on an earlier visit to Canberra. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

Ryan 'Brickman' McNaught is one of only 20 certified LEGO professionals in the world and is well known for his role as a judge on Channel Nine's much-loved TV show, LEGO Masters, hosted by Hamish Blake.

Canberra Centre general manager Gary Stewart said it was proud to be a major partner of Floriade.

"We really value our partnership with this festival and the amazing community of people surrounding it. It's an enormous tourism driver for the region, which is so important for Canberra Centre to get behind," he said.

WHAT'S ON IN CANBERRA:

And if you want to see more of the Brickman's work in Canberra, head to Parliament House.

In 2018, he used more than 150,000 bricks to create Parliament House in LEGO, for the 30th anniversary of the building's opening. The project took 750 hours to complete.

The LEGO Parliament House is on display at the real Parliament House.

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