In 1932, carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his company in Billund, Denmark with the purpose of encouraging imaginative games and creativity in children. The company began by manufacturing stepladders. However, the Great Depression forced him into an adaptable business model. He shifted his focus to the manufacturing of toys, and created one of the most popular brands.
Christiansen was a forward-thinking person who was quick to adopt new materials and technologies. In 1947, he was the first company to acquire a plastics injection molding machine in the world. This greatly enhanced the capabilities and selection of Lego products. The machine enabled him to experiment and create the Lego brick. The bricks were hollow on the bottom and had pegs on the top. They were interlocked to let children build intricate structures that were far more intricate than those made using wooden blocks from earlier generations.
The 1950s were a time of expansion for the business. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s daughter Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen joined the company’s management team and began to modernize the manufacturing process of the company. The expansion https://lego-x.com/2020/01/16/lego-company-history-production-features/ included the introduction of dollhouses, furniture and individual figures called Minifigures. In 1979, the company widened its product line to include sets of miniature astronauts and rockets. They also introduced spaceships, lunar rovers and spaceships.
In 1990, the company launched three Model Team Sets that were designed for advanced builder. The sets contained small parts like axles, levers, gears, and other parts. They were the first Lego sets to offer an element of realism and precision.