In 1932 carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his company in Billund, Denmark with the goal of promoting inventive play and ingenuity among children. He began by manufacturing stepladders. However, the Great Depression forced him into an agile business model. He switched his focus on the manufacture of toys and developed one of history’s most beloved brands.
Christiansen was a forward-thinking man who was quick to embrace new materials and techniques. In 1947, he was the first company in the world to acquire a plastic injection molding machine that greatly expanded the variety and capabilities of Lego products. The machine also let him experiment with a design that would eventually become the iconic Lego brick. The bricks came with pegs at the top and hollow bottoms that interlocked with each others, allowing children create intricate structures that are far greater than the capabilities of the wooden blocks of the past.
The 1950s were a period of expansion for the company. Kjeld Kirk Christiansen, Godtfred Kirk Christian’s daughter joined the management team and began modernizing manufacturing processes of the company. The expansion included the introduction of dollhouses, furniture and individual Minifigures. In 1979, the company expanded its product line to include sets that included astronaut minifigures and rockets. They also introduced lunar rovers, spaceships and spaceships.
In 1990 the company released three Model Team sets that were intended for advanced builders. These sets introduced tiny parts like gears, axles and levers, as well as a degree of realism and accuracy that was unheard of in the Lego series at the time.
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