In 1932, carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his company in Billund, Denmark with the purpose of encouraging imaginative play and awe-inspiring in children. At first, he made stepladders, but the effects of Great Depression forced him to be flexible and modify his business model. He turned his attention on the production of toys and developed one of the most loved brands.
Christiansen was a forward-thinking person who was quick to adopt new materials and technologies. In 1947, he was among the first company to acquire here are the findings a plastic injection molding machine which dramatically increased the options and capabilities of Lego products. The machine let him explore and create the Lego brick. The bricks featured pegs on top and hollow bottoms that were interlocked with each one another, allowing children to create intricate structures far beyond the ones that could be constructed with wooden blocks of previous generations.
The 1950s were a period of growth for the company. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s daughter Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen joined the company’s management team, and she began to modernize the company’s manufacturing techniques. The expansion included the launch a line dollhouses, furnishings and Minifigures, individual figures. In 1979, the company expanded its product line to include sets that included rockets and astronaut minifigures. They also introduced spaceships, lunar rovers and spaceships.
In 1990, the company introduced three Model Team sets that were specifically designed for builders with advanced skills. These sets introduced small parts like gears, axles, and levers, and provided the kind of realistic accuracy that was unparalleled in the Lego series at the time.