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By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher

“Our idea has been to create a toy that prepares the together” or “I assemble” in Latin. According to the Company’s history,
the LEGO name has been used officially since January 1936.
child for life – appealing to their imagination and
Following World War II, plastics became available in Denmark, and
developing the creative urge and joy of creation LEGO purchased a plastic injection molding machine in 1947. One of
the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken
that are the driving forces in every human being.”
apart and reassembled. In 1947, Ole Kirk and his son, Godtfred,
– Godtfred Kirk Kristiansen, 1955 obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the English
toy company Kiddicraft. Kiddicraft was founded by Hilary Fisher Page,
rom its Danish roots, LEGO® has become arguably one of the a toy maker and inventor of Self-Locking Building Bricks, the prede-
most popular toys and brands in the world. Generations have cessor of LEGO bricks. It did not take long before Ole and Godtfred
Fgrown up playing and building with LEGOs, and today saw a business opportunity in the principle of Kiddicraft’s interlocking
representations and actual blocks can be found online (webcomics, bricks of blocks. In 1949, the LEGO Group began producing similar
video games), in movies, music, television, and art among other creative bricks, calling them “Automatic Binding Bricks.”
mediums. There are even special events and contests held around the
country to bring together
families and fans. So, how Fun Fact: The story goes that Ole held a contest
does one interlocking among his employees for a new name with the
concept conceived for a winner receiving a bottle of homemade wine.
toy over 65 years ago He chose his own entry and apparently got to
continue to dominate our
popular culture? Design, drink his own wine.
innovation, and a love for
the creative mind at play.
In 1947, Ole and his son Godtfred
purchased the first plastic injection
Building Blocks molding machine in Denmark. On this
machine they would produce their first
LEGO blocks originated set of interlocking plastic bricks. This
in Billund, Denmark, in first generation of bricks was copied
At the beginning, Ole Christiansen’s shop the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk from/inspired by a British invention.
produced furniture like ladders, stools, Christiansen. Christiansen began
and ironing boards shown here. making wooden toys in 1932 as a
way to generate additional revenue LEGO bricks, then manu-
for his woodworking and house-building company during the factured from cellulose acetate,
were developed in the spirit of
Depression. He started out by making wooden toys such as piggy traditional wooden blocks that
banks, pull toys, cars and trucks, and houses. could be stacked upon one
In 1934, Christiansen held a contest among his staff to name his
new toy company, offering a bottle of homemade wine as a prize. another but could be “locked”
together. They had several
Christiansen was considering two names himself, “Legio” (with the round “studs” on top and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would
implication of a “Legion of toys”) and “Lego,” a self-made contraction stick together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. In
from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” meaning “play well.” Later the Lego 1953, the bricks were given a new name: Lego Mursten, or “Lego
Group discovered that “Lego” could be loosely interpreted as “I put

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