Ole Kirk Christiansen was born in 1891 in Denmark and began carving wooden toys as a child. He went on to become a carpenter and later bought a woodworking shop. During a economic slowdown in the 1930s, he began making wooden toys which became very popular under the brand name LEGO, derived from Danish words meaning "play well." Over the following decades, LEGO became a leading toy company and introduced their signature interlocking plastic bricks in the 1950s. The LEGO system of building toys gained global popularity and the company has since expanded into theme parks, education, and has annual sales over $1.5 billion.

1. Ole Kirk Christiansen was born
on April 7 1891 in the village of
Filskov, Denmark. He was one of 10
children of Jens Niels Christiansen and
Kirstine (Andersen) Christiansen. He
began tending his family's sheep in the
fields at the age of six, and to pass the
time during the long hours outside, he
carved small wooden figures. Later, he
trained under his older brother, Kristian
Bonde Christiansen, to become a
carpenter. Around 1916, he bought the
Billund Woodworking and Carpentry
Shop, and had several profitable years as
a local home builder in the village of
Billund, also in Jutland; during the slower
winter months he made custom furniture.
Along the way, he married and became
the father to four sons.

2. The Great Depression did not impact Denmark's largely
agricultural economy immediately when it began in 1929, but
by 1931 a flattened market brought a subsequent slowdown in
Christiansen's home-building and furnituremaking business.
He was also a widower by that point, and to make ends meet
he began crafting more practical items in his woodshop.
These included stepladders, stools for milking cows, and
ironing boards, along with a few wooden toys that were made
primarily from wood scraps. The yo-yos, cars, and animals he
carved out of wood proved such a hit that he came up with a
brand name around 1934 for them. Taking the Danish phrase
leg godt, or “play well” he called the line LEGO.

3. After World War II, Christiansen became intrigued by the
possibilities offered by a relatively new material, plastic. In
1947, he acquired one of the first plastic injectionmolding
machines in Denmark to make a new series of toys, such as a
rattle shaped like a fish. His sons, now grown and working
with him, cautioned that the new space-age material was too
expensive and the possibilities too limited, but they were
proven wrong over the next few years. In 1949, Christiansen
introduced the first LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks, which
in 1953 was shortened to just LEGO Bricks. When he visited a
toy fair in England in 1954, one toy buyer for a retail chain told
him there was no “system” in the world of toys, and this gave
Christiansen the idea to create a series of LEGO items that
could be purchased separately, but used with one another.

4. Christiansen’s son, Godtfred Kirk
Christiansen, had begun working alongside his
father in 1942. In 1950, he was named Junior
Vice President of the company. It was he who
conceived of the idea of developing Lego
blocks into a total “system of play.” By
1953, LEGO started marketing complete plastic
block sets and in 1954, they obtained a
trademark for the product, which they renamed
"LEGO Mursten" or "LEGO Bricks."
The company officially launched the
“LEGO System of Play” in 1955, which
comprised 28 different sets and eight toy
vehicles. LEGO patented the bricks’ “stud-and-
tube coupling system” in 1958. That
year, founder Christiansen died. His son
Godtfred immediately took the LEGO helm.

5. Legos continued to gain
popularity, with more themed toy sets
and building-block variations added all
the time. The first LEGO sets were sold
in the United States in 1961. By
1966, offerings included bricks that
could form all sorts of
buildings, vehicles and backdrops. A
larger version of the
blocks, DUPLO, was added in
1967, designed for younger children
and toddlers. In 1977, LEGO introduced
TECHNIC projects for older kids and
teens. Over the years the company
added all sorts of themed Lego
sets, even robotic building sets branded
LEGO Mindstorms, model vehicle kits
and computer games.

6. LEGO opened a series of theme parks based on the Lego toy
concept, the first in Billund in 1968. Others opened in Windsor, England in
1996 and in Carlsbad, California in 1999. Most recently, a fourth park
opened in 2002 in Gunzburg, Germany. The parks continue to be immensely
popular with people of all ages, especially parents and their children.

7. Ole’s grandson, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, later became
CEO of the company and maintained that position until
October 2004 when he was replaced by the company’s
first non-family chief executive. LEGO has been a
pioneer in using its products to advance research in
learning and play. Initiatives include the LEGO Learning
Institute, the LEGO Educational Division, collaboration
with MIT’s Media Lab, and LEGO Serious Play, a product
designed to help business owners to develop innovative
strategies and solutions. The company has sold Lego
toys in 130 countries, with sales totaling more than $1.5
billion.

8.  http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Ole_Kirk_Christiansen
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Kirk_Christiansen
 http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/LEGO_Group
 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-
2506300044.html