Lego Founder Dies: The Brick Builder's Legacy
Ole Kirk Christiansen, the Danish carpenter who founded Lego, died on March 11, 1958, leaving behind a company that was already on the path to becoming one of the world's most successful toy manufacturers. Christiansen started making wooden toys in his Billund workshop during the Great Depression after his furniture business failed. He named the company Lego in 1934, from the Danish 'leg godt' (play well), unaware that the word also means 'I assemble' in Latin. The breakthrough came in 1949 when he began producing plastic 'Automatic Binding Bricks' that could interlock. The modern Lego brick, with its tube-and-stud coupling system patented in 1958, was perfected just months before his death. Christiansen's motto was 'Only the best is good enough.' He reportedly burned an entire shipment of wooden ducks when an employee admitted they had been given only two coats of lacquer instead of three. Today, Lego produces over 100 billion bricks per year.
March 11, 1958
68 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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