Bricks nation — Cape Floral Kingdom reimagined in Lego by local designer

Lego of Cape Town City Hall created by designer Christoff van Wyk. (Photo: Supplied)

18 May 2025

Adult Lego has taken the world by storm, from Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night to Harry Potter sets and the increasingly popular Lego botanical collections. There seems to be a Lego set for everyone. Now there may be a special Cape Floral Kingdom set joining the collection.

Local designer Christoff van Wyk is capturing South Africa’s botanical beauty, one Lego brick at a time. Inspired by the rich biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom, he has recreated iconic fynbos species such as the protea, Erica blenna and gousblom in striking detail.

Now, through innovative recreations of iconic fynbos species, Van Wyk (also known as Superstof Bricks) is not only celebrating the unique biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom, but is also aiming to put South African flora on the global stage as a potential official Lego set.

Here’s how his passion for nature, design and Lego converged into a project that’s capturing imaginations locally and abroad.

Van Wyk created his set – “Fynbos Flowers – using surfboards, bananas and even sailor’s hat Lego pieces.

Growing up in Riversdale, a small town in the Western Cape, and now based in Cape Town while working as a graphic designer, Van Wyk has always been drawn to the region’s rich natural environment.

“Growing up in the Garden Route… we have such a beautiful landscape, fauna and flora in South Africa that it’s difficult not to take notice of it,” he told Daily Maverick

The scenery of Table Mountain and the daily presence of indigenous plants on his hikes and walks throughout his life have shaped his creative outlook and instilled a deep appreciation for the local ecosystems.

Designer Christoff van Wyk with a Lego protea flower he created (Photo: Supplied)

Lego Cape Floral Kingdom Christoff van Wyk’s design of a chincherinchee found in the Cape Floral Kingdom. (Photo: Supplied)

The “Fynbos Flowers” project began with his desire to recreate South Africa’s national flower, the protea, using Lego bricks. The other species in the set followed naturally.

The Erica blenna in the set, he explained, holds special meaning because it grows in his hometown of Riversdale, while the green tree pincushions are familiar from his hikes on Table Mountain and the West Coast’s vibrant spring wildflowers have long inspired him.

The project is gathering supporters on the Lego Ideas website. If it reaches 10,000 supporters the Lego Group will review his design and consider turning it into an official set that will be sold commercially.

Much of the support has come from the “Fynbos People” Facebook group and South Africans living abroad, who see the set as a way to keep a piece of home with them.

“In recent years the Lego Botanical series has become a lot more popular. But I noticed that they didn’t really have any South African flowers. And we have some of the most iconic flowers in the world,” Van Wyk said.

A greentree forms part of Van Wyk’s Lego creation. (Photo: Supplied)

The Cape Floral Kingdom is recognised as one of the most important regions for plants in the world in terms of diversity, density and number of endemic species.

“I wanted to create a lush flower bed with all of the flowers together, like you would see whenever you buy a bouquet of fynbos flowers. It’s always this variety of colour and flowers, and I wanted to encapsulate that in my design,” he said.

He started by creating a protea flower out of existing Lego pieces, “because I knew, if I did a collection of flowers, it would have to feature the protea”.

The design process was creative and technical. “When you’re designing on such a compact scale, you have to get very creative in how you put things together.”

Vector creation by designer Christoff van Wyk of South African botanical flowers, featuring Fynbos flowers and plants from the Cape Floral Kingdom.(Photo: Supplied)

He meticulously selected Lego pieces that could mimic the textures and hues of petals and leaves, sometimes constrained by the availability of specific parts and colours.

He had also tried to make other species out of Lego bricks but ultimately these didn’t work within the scale or the available parts.

“If there was anything that looked like a flower petal or anything that I could use in a particular colour, I would lay [it] out in the design just to have an overview of what are all the possible pieces that I have to work with in this colour [are], and then just try and start mixing, matching and seeing what works, what doesn’t.”

In the beginning…

Lego has been a lifelong companion for Van Wyk. “I’ve always loved Lego. My whole life. Played with it when I was little,” he said. As an adult he joined CapeLUG, a local Lego hobby group where enthusiasts share their creations and exhibit at public events.

The Cape Town City Hall built in Lego by Christoff van Wyk. (Photo: Supplied)

He said this community reignited his passion for Lego, prompting him to explore how he could express his South African identity through the medium, and the idea to build fynbos flowers from Lego emerged organically. “I started to look around to see how I can express myself and my own ideas in Lego. And I started to focus on South African-inspired things in particular.”

After building a model of the Cape Town City Hall using more than 8,000 pieces, he turned his attention to the flora, and he hopes to create more South African-inspired sets in future.

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A post shared by Superstof Bricks (@superstofbricks)

At the heart of Van Wyk’s project is a desire to showcase South Africa’s natural beauty to a global audience. He hopes the Lego set will inspire appreciation for the country’s unique flora, saying that “everywhere in South Africa, every place has its own thing that makes it unique and special and beautiful.” DM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk

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