Maker record
United States
LEGO is a Danish toy maker whose best-known products are interlocking construction bricks and sets. The company began making wooden toys in Billund in 1932 and moved into plastic toys after acquiring an injection-moulding machine in 1947. It marketed its first plastic bricks as Automatic Binding Bricks in 1949. The brick’s present form, using a stud-and-tube coupling system, was launched in 1958. LEGO’s range has since developed around a building system based on compatible elements.
- Founded
- 1932
- Countries
- Denmark
- Locations
- Billund, Denmark
- Founders
- Ole Kirk Kristiansen
The story of United States
Carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen began making wooden toys in Billund in 1932, including cars, aeroplanes and yo-yos. He concentrated the business on toy production in 1935 and adopted the LEGO name, derived from the Danish words “leg godt” (“play well”), in January 1936. A factory fire in 1942 destroyed much of the workshop; production resumed in a rebuilt toy factory at the same site by the end of that year.
After investing in an injection-moulding machine, which arrived in Billund in 1947, the company entered plastics production. It introduced Automatic Binding Bricks in 1949, then added the Danish name LEGO Mursten in 1951 and dropped the English product name in 1953. The brick in its present form, with a stud-and-tube coupling system, was launched in 1958. The company, founded by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, passed through generations of the Kirk Kristiansen family and remains family-owned.