History of Lego

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Lego wood models from the 1930s

The History of Lego begins in 1932 at a Danish carpentry workshop and continues in the 21st
century as a popular line of construction toys and related products and services, including Lego
board games, retail stores, Lego video games, Lego films, Legoland theme parks, and even Lego
Serious Play consultant services, with a significant impact on various areas of popular culture.
Despite its expanson, the compamy remains privately held.

Contents
[hide]

1 Beginnings, 1932-1959
2 Change to plastic bricks, 19601969
3 Expansion, 1970-1991
4 Decline, 1992-2004
5 Recovery, 2005-present
6 References
7 External links

Beginnings, 1932-1959[edit]
The Lego Group began in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, in Billund, Denmark. In
1916, Christiansen purchased a woodworking shop in Billund which had been in business since

[1]:8
1895.
The shop mostly helped construct houses and furniture, and had a small staff of
apprentices. The workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire ignited some wood

[2]:37
shavings.
Ole Kirk constructed a larger workshop, and worked towards expanding his
business even further. When the Great Depression hit, Ole Kirk had fewer customers and had to
focus on smaller projects. He began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. It
was these miniature models of stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing

[2]:39
toys.
In 1932, Ole Kirk's shop started making wooden toys such as piggy banks, pull toys, cars and trucks
and houses. The business was not profitable because of the Great Depression. Farmers in the area
sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys; Ole Kirk continued producing practical furniture in
addition to toys to stay in business. In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of
increased activity until it suddenly collapsed. To reduce waste, Ole Kirk used the leftover yo-yo parts

[1]:15
as wheels for toy trucks.

His son Godtfred began working for him, taking an active role in

[1]:15
the company.
In 1934, Ole Kirk held a contest among his staff to name the company, offering a bottle of

[1]:17
homemade wine as a prize.
Christiansen was considering two names himself, "Legio" (with
the implication of a "Legion of toys") and "Lego", a self-made contraction from the Danish phrase leg
godt, meaning "play well." Later the Lego Group discovered that "Lego" can be loosely interpreted as

[3]
"I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin.
began using it on their products.

Ole Kirk selected his own name, Lego, and the company

Following World War II, plastics became available in Denmark, and Lego purchased a plastic

[1]:25
injection molding machine in 1947.
One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck
that could be taken apart and re-assembled. In 1947, Ole Kirk and Godtfred obtained samples of
interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. These "Kiddicraft Self-Locking

[4]

[5]

Building Bricks"
were designed by Hilary Page.
In 1939, Page had applied for a patent on
hollow plastic cubes with four studs on top (British Patent N.529,580) that allowed their positioning

[6][7]
atop one another without lateral movement.
In 1944, Page applied an "Improvement to Toy
Building Blocks" as an addition to the previous patent, in which he describes a building system
based on rectangular hollow blocks with 2X4 studs on top enabling the construction of walls with
staggered rows and window openings. The addition was granted in 1947 as British Patent N
587,206. In 1949, the Lego Group began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding
Bricks." Lego bricks, then manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of
traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another but could be "locked" together.
They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together,

but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. In 1953, the bricks were given a new
name: Lego Mursten, or "Lego Bricks."
Plastic products were not well received by customers initially, who preferred wooden or metal toys.
Many of Lego's shipments were returned, following poor sales. In 1954, Godtfred had become the
junior managing director of the Lego Group. Godtfred's conversation with an overseas buyer struck
the idea of a toy "system", with many toys in a line of related products. Godtfred evaluated their
available products, and saw the plastic bricks as the best candidate for such a "system". In 1955,
Lego released the "Town Plan" as such a system, using the building bricks.
The building bricks were moderately received, but had some problems from a technical standpoint:
their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not versatile. In 1958 the bricks were improved with
hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This added support in the base, enabling much better
locking ability and improved versatility. The company patented the new design, as well as several
similar designs to avoid competition. Ole Kirk Christiansen died that same year, and Godtfred
inherited leadership of the company.

Change to plastic bricks, 1960-1969[edit]

Another warehouse fire struck the Lego Group in 1960, consuming most of the company's inventory
of wooden toys. Godtfred decided that the plastic line was strong enough to abandon production of
wooden toys. As a result, Godtfred's brothers Gerhardt (then head of wooden toys) and Karl Georg
left the Lego company and began a separate company "Bilofix". By the end of the year, the Lego

[citation needed]
Group was employing more than 450 people.
In 1961, Lego wished to expand sales to North America, but did not have the logistical capabilities to
do so. Lego made an arrangement allowing Samsonite to begin producing and selling Lego products
in the United States and Canada.
1961 and 1962 saw the introduction of the first Lego wheels, an addition that expanded the potential
for building cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles from Lego bricks. Also during this time, the Lego
Group introduced toys specifically targeted towards the pre-school market.
In 1963, cellulose acetate, the material used to create Lego bricks, was replaced by the more
stable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS plastic), which is still used today. ABS is non-toxic, is less
prone to discolouration and warping, and is more resistant to heat, acids, salt, and other chemicals.
Samsonite manufacturing in North America did not switch at the same time, and still used some
degree of cellulose acetate in its Lego products.
1964 was the first year that instruction manuals were included in Lego sets.

[citation needed]
One of the LEGO Group's most successful series,
the Lego train system,
was released in 1966. The original train sets included a 4.5-volt motor, battery box and rails; two
years later, a 12-volt motor was introduced.
On 7 June 1968, the first Legoland Park was opened in Billund. This theme park featured elaborate
models of miniature towns built entirely from Lego bricks. The three acre (12,000 m) park attracted
625,000 visitors in its first year alone. During the next 20 years, the park grew to more than eight
times its original size, and eventually averaged close to a million paying visitors per year. More than
eighteen million Lego sets were sold in 1968.
In 1969, the Duplo system went on sale. Duplo bricks are much larger than Lego bricks, making
them safer for young children, but the two systems are compatible: Lego bricks can be fitted neatly
onto Duplo bricks, making the transition to the Lego system easily made as children outgrow their
Duplo bricks. The name Duplo comes from the Latin wordduplus, which translates literally as double,

meaning that a Duplo brick is exactly twice the dimension of a Lego building brick (2 height by 2
width by 2 depth = 8 the volume of a brick).

Expansion, 1970-1991[edit]

1978 US patent on the minifigure

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During the last three decades of the 20th century Lego expanded into new areas of toy making and
marketing. In 1971, Lego began to target girls by introducing furniture pieces and dollhouses. In
1972, Lego added boat and ship sets, with floating hull pieces.
During this same period, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, joined the
managerial staff, after earning business degrees in Switzerland and Denmark. One of Kjeld's first
achievements with the company was the foundation of manufacturing facilities, as well as a research
and development department that would be responsible for keeping the company's manufacturing
methods up to date. Human figures with posable arms made an appearance in 1974 in "Lego family"
sets, which went on to become the biggest sellers at the time; in the same year, an early version of
the "minifigure" miniature Lego person was introduced, but it was not posable and had no face
printed on its head. A Lego production plant was opened in Enfield, Connecticut in the United States.
In 1975 "Expert Series" sets were introduced, geared towards older, more experienced Lego
builders followed by the "Expert Builder" sets in 1977. The technical sets featured moving parts such
as gears, differentials, cogs, levers, axles and universal joints, and permitted the construction of
realistic models such as automobiles, with functional rack and pinion steering and lifelike engine
movements. In 1978 the Lego "minifigure" was added. These small Lego people have posable arms
and legs, and a smile. The figure was used in many varieties of Lego sets, allowing construction of
towns populated with the smiling minifigure Lego citizens.
In 1979 Lego expanded into space with the creation of Lego Space sets with astronaut minifigures,
rockets, lunar rovers and spaceships and the Scala series, featuring jewelry elements marketed
towards young girls. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen became the president of Lego in this year.
Since the 1960s,educators saw Lego bricks' constructive potential as being an invaluable asset in
helping children to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities. Teachers had been using Lego

bricks in the classroom for a variety of reasons. In 1980, the Lego Group established the Educational
Products Department (eventually renamed Lego Dacta, in 1989), to expand the educational
possibilities of their toys. A packing and assembly factory opened in Switzerland, followed by
another in Jutland, Denmark that manufactured Lego tires.
Between the 1960s and 90s Lego worked with Royal Dutch Shell in allowing Shell branding on

[8]
certain items.
In 1981, the second generation of Lego trains appeared. As before, these were available in either
4.5 V (battery powered) or 12 V (mains powered), but with a much wider variety of accessories,
including working lights, remote-controlled points and signals, and decouplers.
The "Expert Builder" series matured in 1982, becoming the "Technic" series. August 13 of that year
marked the Lego Group's 50th anniversary; the book 50 Years of Play was published to
commemorate the occasion. In the following year, the Duplo system was expanded to include sets
for even younger audiences, particularly infants; new sets included baby rattles and figures with
adjustable limbs. The year after, Lego minifigure citizens gained a realm of knights and horses, with
the introduction of the first Castle sets. Light & Sound sets made their appearance in 1985; these
sets included a battery pack with electrical lights, buzzers, and other accessories to add another
dimension of realism to Lego creations. Also that year, the Lego Group's educational division
produced the Technic Computer Control, which was an educational system whereby Technic robots,
trucks, and other motorized models could be controlled with a computer. Manaus, Brazil gained a
Lego factory in this year, as well.
In 1984, the Technic line was expanded with the addition of pneumatic components.

This Lego model of a composite of

London, including a motorized model
of a London Underground train
controlled by computers, can be seen
in Legoland Windsor.
In August 1988, 38 children from 17 different countries took part in the first Lego World Cup building
contest, held in Billund. That same year, Lego Canada was established. The Lego line grew again in
1989 with the release of the Lego Pirates series, which featured a variety of pirate ships, desert
islands and treasure; the series was also the first to depart from the standard minifigure smiling face
to create an array of piratical characters. The Lego Group's Educational Products Department was
renamed Lego Dakta in this year; the name is derived from the Greek word "didactic", which roughly

means "the study of the learning process." MIT's Dr. Seymour Papert, from the Laboratory of
Computer Learning, was named "Lego Professor of Learning Research," after his ongoing work in
linking the Logo programming language with Lego products.
Until 1989 Lego minifigures only came in a yellow skin color with standard smiling face, though early
prototypes had a variety of skin colors and facial expressions. Lego Pirates in 1989 expanded the
array of facial expressions with beards and eye patches, followed by sun glasses, lipstick,
eyelashes, and so on. However, many older collectors resented the new look, saying they looked too
"cartoon-ish" or "kiddy", and preferred the simplistic nature of the two eyes and smile.
In 1990 a new series designed for advanced builders was released. Three Model Team sets,
including a race car and an off-road vehicle, featured a level of detail and realism not previously
seen in any Lego series. Where Technic was mechanically accurate, Model Team was visually and
stylistically accurate. The Lego Group became one of the top 10 toy companies in this year; it was
the only toy company in Europe to be among the top 10. Legoland Billund had more than one million
visitors in this year, for the first time in its history. The first-ever "Lego Professor of Business
Dynamics," Xavier Gilbert, was appointed to an endowed chair at the International Institute for
Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lego Malaysia was also established in 1990.
In 1991, the Lego Group standardized its electrical components and systems; the Trains and
Technic motors were made 9V to bring the systems into line with the rest of the Lego range.
In 1992 two Guinness records were set using Lego products: A castle made from 400,000 Lego
bricks, and measuring 4.45 meters by 5.22 meters, was built on Swedish television, and a 545
meters long Lego railway line with three locomotives was constructed. Duplo was augmented with
the addition of the Toolo line featuring a screwdriver, wrench, nuts and bolts; the Paradisa line,
targeted towards girls, brought a variety of new pastel colors into the Lego system and focused
around horses and a beach theme. In 1993 a Duplo train and a parrot-shaped "brickvac" that could
scoop Lego pieces up off the floor were released.

A model of St Paul's Cathedral in

London can be seen in Legoland
Windsor. It is made of thousands of
Lego bricks. The rotating model of
theLondon Eye in the background is
also made of Lego bricks.

In the late 1990s, the Lego Group brought out a series of new and specialized ranges aimed at
particular demographics. The Slizers/Throwbots line preceded the Bionicle range, and uses Technic
pieces and specialist moldings to create a set of action figures for boys, while Belville is a more
conventional line aimed at girls and featuring large posable figures like those in the Technic range. A
"Lego 4 Juniors" group features 2-inch (51 mm) tall medium-sized figures ("medi-figure") without
jointed arms, and longer legs than the classic Lego minifigure. In 2003, the Lego Group introduced a
completely new system, Clikits, aimed at girls and consisting of customizable plastic jewelry and
accessories. In 2004, Lego added the QUATRO brick, for ages 13. Much like Duplo, a Quatro brick
is four times the dimension of a regular Lego brick, and is compatible with the Duplo brick. Also that
year, they created the second line of Knights Kingdomthemed product.

Decline, 1992-2004[edit]
[9]
Lego's profits had declined since 1992, and in 1998 it posted its first ever loss, at 23 million.

In

[10]
the same year the company laid off 1000 employees.
In 1999 the first Lego products featuring licensed characters, i.e. not designed in-house, were Lego
Star Wars and Winnie the PoohDuplo, followed in 2000 by Lego Harry Potter characters to figures

[11]
from other Steven Spielberg movies.
Soren Holm, the head of Lego Concept Lab said toy
weapons had always been heavily debated, but that since the Lego Star Wars release Lego has

[11]
grown "more comfortable with conflict".

Mr Laursen, executive North American operations

[11]

suggested to make violence not explicit, but humoristic.

After 1999 a number of in-house
characters were strongly characterised with media utilisation and non-Lego System merchandising,
most notably Bionicle from 2001-2010.
In 2004 Lego posted a loss of 174 million, with executive vice-president of marketing Mads Nipper

[9]
later describing the company as having been "almost bankrupt" at this point.
He analysed in
retrospect that "we continued to invest as if the company were growing strongly. We failed to realise
that we were on a slippery path. Children were getting less and less time to play. Some of the
western markets had fewer and fewer children. So play trends changed, and we failed to change.
We were not making toys that were sufficiently interesting to children. We failed to innovate enough.

[9]
And we had nowhere cut deep enough to right-size the company".
In 2004 Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen resigned as CEO and appointed Jrgen Vig Knudstorp, the first nonfamily CEO. The four Legoland parks were sold to theme-park operators, and manufacturing that

[9]
had been outsourced to 80% was returned to Lego's control.

Recovery, 2005-present[edit]
The company focused on its core products and reintroduced Duplo. Since 2004 manufacturing

[11]
moved to Mexico and distribution from Billund to Central Europe.

By 2007 a global workforce of

[9]
9,100 in 1998 was reduced to 4,200 due to outsourcing.
In the US alone Lego sales increased
32 percent, because of Star Wars and Indiana Jones themed games, while globally 2008 sales

[11]
increased 18.7 percent.
Mr Laursen, Lego executive of North American operations said in 2009
that licenses played a bigger role in the American market than overseas. About 60 percent of Legos

[11]
American sales were estimated to be linked to licenses, twice that of 2004.

Laursen stated in

[11]
2009 that Lego was "definitely more commercially oriented.
In 2009, both Lego Games (board
games) and Lego Power Miners were introduced; despite the Great Recession profits for 2009 were
99.5 million, with Mads Nipper, Lego executive vice-president of marketing stating to be "delivering

[9]
twice the return on sales of any competitor".
In 2011 Lego resumed a long-term contract with Royal Dutch Shell, after using its logo on products

[8]
from the 1960s through to the 1990s. This co-branding was criticised byGreenpeace in 2014.
In 2012 an animated short film titled The LEGO Story made by Danish studio Lani Pixels for the 80th
anniversary of Lego, depicted the struggles of Ole Kirk Christiansen and his son Godtfred Kirk

[citation
Christiansen from 1932-1968, as they worked to make the company successful.

needed]
In 2014, Warner Bros and The Lego Group released The Lego Movie, a computer-animated
adventure comedy film telling the story of an ordinary Lego minifigure prophesied to save the world.

[12]
It received one of the highest recorded openings for an original animated movie,

[13]
Angeles Times noted "nearly unanimous positive reviews" for the film.

and the Los