In 1932 carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his company in Billund, Denmark with the goal of promoting inventive games and creativity in children. At first, he made stepladders, however the effects of Great Depression forced him to be flexible and adapt his business model. He shifted his focus to the production of toys, and in doing so he created one of the most popular brands in the history of the world.
Christiansen was a thinker who was progressive and was quick to adopt new materials and technologies. In 1947, he was the first company in the world to purchase an injection molding machine made of plastic which significantly increased the selection and capabilities of Lego products. The machine let him experiment and to create the Lego brick. The bricks had pegs on top and hollow bottoms that were interlocked with each other, allowing children to create intricate structures that are far greater than the ones that could be constructed with wooden blocks of previous generations.
The 1950s were a period that saw the business expand. Kjeld Kirk Christiansen, Godtfred Kirk Christian’s daughter, joined the management team and commenced modernizing the company’s manufacturing methods. The expansion included the introduction of a line dollhouses, furnishings and individual Minifigures. In 1979, the company branched out into space, with sets that included astronaut minifigures, rockets, lunar rovers and spaceships and into medieval territory with a Castle theme.
In 1990, the company introduced three Model Team sets that were made for advanced builders. These sets included small parts such as axles, gears, and levers, and provided an amount of realisticity and accuracy that was unheard of in the Lego series at the time.