The Start of the Lego Co.
-1891-
One of the world’s leading toy company founders and most inspirational people on the face of the planet, Ole Kirk Christiansen was born in 1891, Filskov, Denmark to Kirstine Christiansen and Jens Niels Christiansen. Ole was the youngest of ten children in their family. They were extremely poor and due to that Ole and his nine brothers only attended basic schooling up until high school. At the age of 14 during high school, he picked up a passion for carpentry and apprenticed under the wing of his older brother, Kristian Bonde Christiansen.
-1911-
After his brother enhanced his knowledge about carpentry, he wanted to further his skills. In 1911 Ole travelled to Germany to work as a carpenter for about five years. When Ole came back in 1916, he got married to Kirstine Sorensen. Only four years later they had their first child, Karl Georg Kirk Christiansen. The next year they had their second son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. Later they had two more sons. At that time Ole was still working and training as a carpenter.
-1930-
In 1930 Ole moved to Billund and opened his new carpentry workshop. He started off producing wooden stepladders, ironing boards and stools. He employed six workers and trained them to become as good as he was. A couple years later in 1932, Ole had to dismiss his last worker due to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. This was not benefitting for the company. When Ole thought things couldn’t get any worse, that same year his wife passed away. With the responsibility of his four sons, he had to do something. One day Ole had an idea, to brighten his sons’ moods, he made a wooden pull along duck. It made his boys so happy he decided to give toy making a try. So the company started and the production of high quality wooden toys began. One of his sons, Godtfred helped out with the business and together they just barely kept up the production.
-1934-
Time passed by and sales diminished. Ole thought that if his toy company had a name, word would go around faster and sales would improve. He wanted a name that would convey meaning in ‘playing well’. In Danish, playing well is ‘Leg Godt’. Eventually, the name Lego was decided. But what Ole didn’t know was that in Latin, Lego means ‘I put together’. The name was highly favoured. By the end of the year, they had 42 different wooden toy designs and sales were going extremely well.
Something special about Ole was that he always strived for the best. One good example was in late 1934. The company grew and with their funds, purchased a milling machine. Production was exponentially faster and higher quality. One day Ole asked Godtfred to finish coating the lacquer on the wooden ducks for a shipment. However, Godtfred only applied two layers instead of three. Ole was furious and asked Godtfred to unpack them all and apply the last layer. This lesson became Ole’s greatest quote,
“Only the best is good enough,”
-1939-
In the late 1930's, Lego was making a profit and even when World War II broke out they attempted their best to remain in the market. At this time Lego had over 50 different types of blueprints for the toys they made. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. But a cold blizzardy night changed everything. The workshop had caught on fire and despite calling the fire brigade, it was impossible to save the toys, let alone the blueprints. He almost lost his company. Everything seemed to be downing downhill again.
Ole was not the type of person to give up and with his children and workers by his side he decided to rebuild a new Lego workshop.
-1946-
Gradually, the Lego company began it’s ascend back into the market again and they were back into making a profit. One day Ole went to a production machine convention in Copenhagen. While browsing he was very intrigued, but his main purpose was to see the new machine that was brought into Denmark. A plastic molding machine. With all the possibilities that they could make, he decided to purchase it and bring it back home to the new workshop.
There was something on his mind. At the convention, Ole had been given a sample made by the machine. I was an simple interlocking brick. This is where the Lego brick company started. From having no money at all, burnt down workshop and losing his most beloved individual, Ole Kirk Christiansen moved on to be one of the world’s most successful business owners. In his later years, he passed on the company to his son Godtfred and the company kept passing through the generations. Lego now has over 11 Legoland theme parks and over 1.5 million visitors annually. From wooden toys to the bricks we now know, it took a long journey and lots of hard work.