The LEGO Company History

Ole Kirk Christiansen, who started his business in Billund in Denmark in 1932, manufactured wooden toys and furniture. His business was not lucrative and he struggled through the early 1930s. In 1934, he shifted his focus on building toys — and changed the name of his company to LEGO which is a contraction of the Danish words “leg godt” (play well).

The company expanded into other Nordic countries in the 1960s. The company developed a smaller model, perfect for children with small hands. It was named DUPLO (after the Latin word duplex, which means two-fold). This allowed children of a younger age to build more intricate models.

In the 1970s, Lego began to introduce new features to make their products stand out from the other brands. For instance, they added a range of different faces to their miniature figures. This made their characters look more realistic and enabled them to express various facial expressions and emotions. The Lego Group also added wheels to its bricks, opening the possibility address of designing vehicles and other machines that could move.

The company’s next step was when it introduced specific themes — a system within the systems that let customers to create a specific world or situation. The company was able increase its brand’s visibility and reach younger customers. The company also increased its production by opening factories in South Korea and Malaysia.