In 1932 carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his company in Billund, Denmark with the purpose of encouraging imaginative play and ingenuity in children. In the beginning, he produced stepladders but the effects of Great Depression forced him to be flexible and adapt his business model. He changed his focus on the production of toys and developed one of history’s most beloved brands.
Christiansen was a forward-thinker and quick to adopt new technologies and materials. In 1947, he was among the first company in the world to acquire an injection molding machine made of plastic that greatly expanded the range and capabilities of Lego products. The machine allowed him to experiment and to create the Lego brick. The bricks came with pegs at the top and hollow bottoms that were interlocked with each other, allowing children to build complex structures that went beyond the possibilities of wooden blocks of earlier generations.
The 1950s were a period that saw the business expand. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s daughter Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was a member of the management staff, and she began to modernize the manufacturing processes of the company. This expansion saw the introduction of a dollhouse line and furnishings for girls, as well as the very first Minifigures as individual figures. In 1979, the company expanded into space, with sets that included astronaut minifigures, rockets, lunar rovers, and spaceships and also into the medieval world with a castle theme.
In 1990, the company introduced three Model Team sets that were intended for advanced builders. These sets introduced tiny parts such as axles, gears, and levers, as well as an amount of realisticity and accuracy that was unheard of in the Lego series at the time.