Fashion Designer Turns Lego Bricks into Haute Couture

During the 2026 Night of Museums, the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest will showcase a couture dress created by fashion designer Nóra Sármán and LEGO master builder Balázs Dóczy, constructed from more than 12,000 LEGO bricks and nearly 800 LEGO flowers.

In addition, the museum will simultaneously transform into a concert venue, a dance hall, a creative workshop, and a cultural adventure tour around the world. The programs range from South American indigenous body painting to Japanese manga and African masks, Greek circle dances, and from the rhythms of Gypsy music to Hungarian shepherd traditions—all while allowing visitors to not just be spectators but active participants in the experiences.

One of the event’s most spectacular attractions will be on display all day in the museum’s Damjanich Street lobby: a creation by fashion designer Nóra Sármán and LEGO® master builder Balázs Dóczy that is at once a fashion piece, installation, and playful work of art.

The dress, “couture from a flowery meadow,” spectacularly demonstrates how folk art inspiration, fashion, and pop culture can come together within the spaces of the Museum of Ethnography.

Interactive programs await families and children all evening in the MÉTA space: they can design manga characters and “manga kimonos” inspired by Hokusai, create with indigo dye patterns, shape ceramics, or even make Native American body paint designs. The concert programs also focus on shared play: Éva Bolba and JAZZterlánc invite children on a musical adventure through nature, while Eszter Kárász’s storytelling band fills the museum’s spaces with interactive “playhouse rock ’n’ roll.”

The evening will center on music and dance: Greek dance lessons, a Cegléd jug workshop, a dance-led tour, and a dance party lasting into the night will connect the movements and rhythms of different cultures. Performing will be, among others, Besh o droM, the psychedelic Balkan-funk-inspired Várhegyutca, and Folk on 45, who weave Hungarian folk songs and global hits into a new, contemporary musical world.

For those who prefer to delve deeper, special guided tours offer new perspectives: Amazonian body adornments and rituals, African masks, Japanese manga universes, folk witchcraft beliefs, or the history of aristocratic and peasant ceramics come to life under the guidance of curators. Humor is not left out either: Barna Baranyai’s “unprofessional” guided tour takes a completely unconventional look at the museum’s collection.

Visitors can also take a peek behind the scenes: they can descend into the library’s storage room to browse through old costume albums, or see how a digital archive is created from fragile photographic negatives in the museum’s photo lab. Meanwhile, lectures and film screenings explore the knowledge of pastoral life, the traditions of land use, and the ancient forms of the relationship between humans and nature.