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Bricks.” To help them stand out from the Fun Fact: It is estimated that LEGO land that would display LEGO
other versions of plastic building bricks in the there are around 400 billion models in the open air and get visitors off the
market, the company went to the artwork of LEGO bricks on Earth or floor of his factory.
Dutch painter Piet Mondrian for the color roughly 50 or more bricks per At the heart of the park (as it is today at
scheme, introducing the primary yellow, all Legoland theme parks) is the Mini Land
white, red, green, and yellow bricks we person living on the planet! model village, which features 1:20 scale
associate with LEGO today. The brick in its LEGO brick models displaying landscapes,
present form was launched in 1958. sights, and buildings from all over Denmark,
Production of LEGO’s wooden toys was discontinued after a fire and landmarks from other parts of the world. The models and
destroyed the company’s wooden toy warehouse in the early 1960s but structures in Billund Resort’s Mini Land were made using more than
by then its popular LEGO building blocks, now being made of 25 million LEGO bricks.
cellulose acetate (to be replaced in 1964 by the more stable acrylonitrile As LEGO fever swept the world, new Legoland theme parks were
butadiene styrene plastic, still in use today) had become the company’s introduced in England, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the
product driver. United Arab Emirates (Dubai), the United States (California, Florida,
and New York), and in 2021, a Legoland Water Park was opened at
A LEGO Land of Its Own Gardaland in Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy.

LEGO Product Diversification

Although LEGO was built
on the back of a single brick
mold in highly recognized
bright, bold colors, it did not
take long for the company to
meet imagination and creativity
with a more expansive product
concept in what the company
called the LEGO® System in
Play, introduced in 1955. This
takes the LEGO brick to a whole
new level of creative possibilities,
as did a series of other innova- By 1955, Godtfred came up with the first
tions in product technology and in a long line of LEGO “System of Play”
marketing. sets which focused on a single town or
In 1956, LEGO introduced village scene. Godtfred is seen here in the
two new core fundamentals to its police costume with his son Kjeld, daugh-
product line, literally laying out ter Gunhild, and their cousin Jorgen.
The LEGO Nyhavn picture taken in Legoland in Billund, Denmark
a floor plan for future growth
and limitless imaginary play: the Town Plan concept and sets of theme-
LEGO’s growing popularity among children and families led the based building sets.
company in 1968 to open the Legoland Billund Resort in Billund, When introduced in 1956, the Town Plan was essentially a
Denmark. This 14-acre theme park, adjacent to the original Lego theme-based vinyl mat designed to provide children with a realistic
factory, was conceived by Godtfred as a way to promote their toy floor plan from which to create their own environment using LEGO
business and capitalize on the over 20,000 visitors a year that products and accessories.
came to the company plant to see their operations and product In Denmark, and later
models. Godtfred persuaded Arnold Boutrup, chief designer at Scandinavia and Germany,
a department store in Copenhagen and the man behind the each component of the Town
city’s most imaginative sales window displays, to create a real Plan was sold as a separate set
or accessory pack. It was
perfect marketing; parents
could always buy a new,
relatively inexpensive set to
add to their children’s
collection. When Lego began
sales in North America in the
early 1960s, the Town Plan
was offered only as a single
large set: the 810 Town Plan
or the 725 Town Plan. These
were packaged in large card-
The snazzy bow-tie-wearing boy on the right board boxes, with cardboard
is Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, CEO of LEGO town plans, and included all of
from 1979-2004. In 2007 he was the richest the components necessary to
man in Denmark, with an estimated net build a complete Town Plan.
worth of $3.3 billion (U.S.). Over the years, hundreds of
Town Plans have been intro-
duced and retired, providing
an active resale market for collectors.
Arnold Boutrup was persuaded by Godtfred to create a “real” LEGO land This was also the year LEGO introduced its first-ever set under the
because of his experience as a chief designer at a department store in LEGO System – the LEGO System 236 Garage with Automatic Door.
Copenhagen. He was known to have created the This set was revolutionary for its time, as it brought together the fun of
“city’s most imaginative sales window displays.”
28 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles