Where is lego from come from ? I’m a Lego nut. I started building with Legos when my son turned 7, and I never stopped. My office is filled with displays that include vehicles, buildings and scenes from “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.”
Do you know the history behind the building toy so popular that it was named Toy of the Century by Fortune magazine in 2000?
Legos were invented by a Danish carpenter-turned-toymaker named Ole Kirk Christiansen.
The company began in 1932, but the bricks that are used today weren’t created until 1958.
The name Lego comes from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” which means “play well.”
The factories that make Legos operate 24 hours a day and are almost completely automated.
The process begins when colored plastic granules (very small fragments) are suctioned through tubes and sent to molding machines.
The plastic is heated to 450 degrees. The softened plastic is forced into molds using 25 to 150 tons of pressure. The plastic cools in less than 10 seconds and is then ejected into large bins.
Up to 2 million Lego pieces are made every hour. That’s about 33,000 per minute!
Christiansen insisted on making the highest-quality toys possible, which explains why Legos fit together so perfectly. Each Lego mold is accurate to within two-thousandths of a millimeter. For every million Legos made, only 18 are rejected because they didn’t meet the high standards set by the company.
In my opinion, the most amazing Lego sculptor is Nathan Sawaya. His work proves that Legos can be used to make art (www.brick artist.com).
Here are some additional cool facts about Legos.
Lego makes about 22 billion pieces every year. More than 300 million of those are rubber tires for toy vehicles. That makes Lego one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world.
Some estimates say that children spend 5 billion hours a year playing with Legos.
The tallest Lego tower on record was built last year in the Czech Republic. It’s made of 450,000 bricks and is 106 feet, 7 inches tall.
Lego has 140 designers who create new products for their eager customers. The designers travel all over the world to find out what’s new and interesting to kids.
Legos are made from the same plastic that’s used to make hard hats.
Some estimates say that children spend 5 billion hours a year playing with Legos.
The tallest Lego tower on record was built last year in the Czech Republic. It’s made of 450,000 bricks and is 106 feet, 7 inches tall.
Lego has 140 designers who create new products for their eager customers. The designers travel all over the world to find out what’s new and interesting to kids.
History of LEGO: How the legacy was built brick by brick
When Ole Kirk Kristiansen started building toys out of his workshop in Billund, Denmark, back in 1932, he never could have guessed that his creations would hit the industry like, well, a ton of bricks and that his company would go on to become one of the most beloved in the world.
Ninety years later, the humble little LEGO brick remains a true pop culture icon, instantly recognizable and, literally, the foundation for everything from toddlers’ first experiences with building to adult masterpieces of art and design.
Over the past nine decades, the LEGO Group has produced more than 400 billion (yes, billion) LEGO bricks and 9.6 billion minifigures — making it the largest population on the planet! There are 10 LEGOLAND parks around the world, four feature-length LEGO brand-inspired movies and one LEGO House, incorporating activities and exhibits that all revolve around 25 million LEGO bricks.
There are so many impressive and jaw-dropping facts about the LEGO brick, not the least of which is that it was named Toy of the Century, beating out teddy bears and Barbie — twice.
So, what was the journey like to global superstardom? How did LEGO bricks become the stuff of legend? Let’s go back to the beginning.
It started with a wooden duck
“Many people are surprised to learn that the company existed before the LEGO brick,” said LEGO Historian Signe Wiese. “It began with wooden toys in the 1930s, which, in fact, remained part of the product portfolio up until 1960.”
In 1934, Kristiansen named his company LEGO, after the Danish phrase “leg godt,” meaning “play well.” Unbeknownst to him — but a definite foreshadowing of what was to come — the word “lego” also happens to mean “I put together” in Latin.
One year later, he introduced The LEGO Duck, a wooden pull toy with wheels. And that’s where the “duck story” comes in.
Kristiansen’s son, Godtfred (who would later take the reins from his father), used to help out in the workshop. One day, he excitedly announced he had just saved the company money. When his dad asked him how, he explained that, instead of applying the usual three coats of varnish to a shipment of wooden ducks, he had just applied two coats. His dad was furious and made him return to the train station, pick up the shipment and apply the third coat all by himself, telling him he wasn’t allowed to go to sleep until it was done properly.
“That taught me a lesson about quality,” Godtfred admitted. He carved his father’s motto, “Only the best is good enough,” on wooden plaques and hung them in the workshop to remind himself, his three brothers and all employees that “this is how we do things.” That motto – and an unwavering commitment to quality – has remained a keystone of the company’s values for almost a century because, as the LEGO brand founder himself believed, children deserve the best.
The duck also remains a valuable symbol of the LEGO Group, who often use the duck building game to demonstrate their Learning Through Play philosophy. Each person is given the same six yellow and red LEGO bricks and asked to build a duck in 30 seconds. Because there’s no wrong way to build it, it’s an empowering exercise that also encourages open-mindedness as everyone shares their creations and marvels at the diversity and creative ways of looking at something.
The plastic LEGO brick is introduced
In 1942, Kristiansen himself was forced to find a new way of looking at things when his factory burned down. This was actually the second fire that had threatened to destroy his business and he decided it was time to find an alternative to wood. He bought Denmark’s first plastic injection molding machine and, by 1949, was producing Automatic Binding Bricks that are similar to the LEGO bricks we know today.
Over the next decade, the foundation was set for the company. Godtfred developed the System in Play, ensuring that every piece would connect with every other piece, giving children unlimited possibilities to experiment. “Our idea has been to create a toy that prepares a child for life,” he wrote, “appealing to their imagination and developing the creative urge and joy of creation that are the driving forces in every human being.”
As Denmark became increasingly industrialized in the 1950s, with more cars on the roads, LEGO Town Plan (now LEGO City) was introduced to help kids learn to navigate this new urban environment. With its realistic and relatable elements, LEGO City remains a popular theme all these years later.
In 1958, the company came up with the stud and tube principle, molding each LEGO brick to the accuracy of a hair’s width (5my/0.005mm) to ensure the perfect clutch power that holds creations together. This interlocking process was so innovative and groundbreaking that the LEGO Group applied for a patent immediately.
“Although the material has changed and production methods have evolved, the LEGO brick has not changed since then,” said Wiese. “Bricks made today will still fit with those produced over 60 years ago.” That consistency and longevity have ensured that LEGO sets get passed down over generations and that the enthusiasm continues.
After another warehouse fire consumed most of the company’s inventory of wooden toys, the LEGO Group decided to stop producing them altogether and change its focus to solely concentrate on the plastic building bricks.
Making connections
Over the years, the LEGO brand has kept its finger on the pulse of pop culture, partnering with some of the most popular franchises in the world, from Star Wars to Harry Potter. Thanks to these collaborations, they continue to remain relevant and fresh, constantly attracting new users while keeping their old ones. In fact, there’s a huge community of AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who have been embraced by the company and to whom many new sets are geared.
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