Ole Kirk Christiansen (born Ole Kirk Kristiansen;<!--See talk page discussion about using this spelling instead of Kristiansen--> 7 April 1891 – 11 March 1958) was a Danish carpenter. In 1932, he founded the construction toy company Lego, later known as the Lego Group. Christiansen transformed his small woodworking shop, which initially sold household products, into a manufacturer of wooden toys. By 1934, he had officially named the company Lego and established its fundamental principles. The business shifted to producing plastic bricks after the acquisition of a plastic moulding injection machine in 1947. Following his death in 1958, the company's management was handed over to his son, Godtfred.
Early years
Christiansen was born on 7 April 1891 in Omvraa Mark, Filskov, South Jutland, Denmark, which is 20 km northwest of Billund. He was one of 13 children of a farm labourer. His parents were Jens Niels Christiansen and Kirstine Christiansen. Although his family was poor, Christiansen was able to receive a basic high-school education. By 1930, Christiansen employed a small workforce to maintain his growing business.
Family and personal life
While establishing his business, Christiansen met Kirstine Sörensen, the daughter of a local cheese-maker. They married in 1916 and had four children. Sörensen died in 1932 after the birth of their fourth child.
Beginnings of Lego
During the early 1930s, Christiansen's business was impacted by the onset of the Great Depression in Denmark. The drop in farming prices resulted in many of his customers being unable to afford his products. This decline in business forced Christiansen to lay off staff in early 1932 until only seven employees remained. In order to sell more products, he made the decision to produce cheap wooden products, including wooden toys. With the business slipping into bankruptcy, he refused to stop producing toys when his siblings requested this as part of a bailout loan.
Christiansen's company moved primarily to the production of wooden toys, such as yo-yos, pull-along animals and trucks. He consequently decided to focus his products on the development of children. With this decision, Christiansen defined the core philosophy of the company, which was expressed in its name in 1934. Lego is a shortened form of the Danish word Leg godt, meaning "play well". The company eventually became known as The Lego Group. Years later, he said, "Not until the day when I said to myself, 'You must make a choice between carpentry and toys' did I find the real answer."
Christiansen made his toy products from birch wood that had been cut from the forest, dried out for two years and then dried in a kiln for three weeks. The toys were put together, sealed, sanded and primed before being painted with three coats of varnish. Although he struggled to sell his household products and wooden toys due to the poverty levels of people living in the local community, he continued to produce toys, sometimes exchanging them for food. By 1935, the toy range included a variety of animals, including a pull-along wooden duck, which has since seen numerous variations. In 1947, the Lego company was the first toy manufacturer in Denmark to purchase a plastic injection moulding machine, which was so expensive that it cost more than twice the previous year's profits. This transition into producing plastic toys was challenging for Christiansen, as he had spent his life working with wood. By 1949, the business was producing a plastic product called the Automatic Binding Brick. Ole died just before his son used the Automatic Binding Brick as the basis for the company's "System of Play", which was the foundation of the modern Lego building toy. the Lego House, which is located at this square, contains an exhibit commemorating Christiansen's legacy. In 1964, Ole Kirk's Foundation, a charitable foundation in Denmark was established in his memory. On 6 September 2023, Parco Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a park located in a northwest area of Rome was named after Christiansen in an official naming ceremony.