The LEGO Story

-1891-

One of the world’s leading toy company founders and most inspirational people. Ole Kirk Christiansen was born in 1891, Filskov, Denmark to Kirstine Christiansen and Jens Niels Christiansen. Ole was the youngest of ten children in their family. They were extremely poor and due to that Ole and his nine brothers only attended basic schooling up until high school. At the age of 14 during high school, he picked up a passion for carpentry and apprenticed under the wing of his older brother, Kristian Bonde Christiansen. Then in 1911, Ole travelled to Germany to work as a carpenter for about five years. When Ole came back in 1916, he got married to Kirstine Sorensen. Only four years later they had their first child, Karl Georg Kirk Christiansen. The next year they had their second son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. Later they had two more sons. At that time Ole was still working and training as a carpenter.

-1930-

In 1930 Ole moved to Billund and opened his carpentry workshop. He started off producing wooden stepladders, ironing boards and stools. He employed six workers and trained them to become as good as he was. A couple years later in 1932, Ole had to dismiss his last worker due to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. When Ole thought things couldn’t get any worse, that same year his wife passed away. With the responsibility of his four sons, he had to do something. One day Ole had an idea, he made a wooden pull along duck. It made his boys so happy he decided to give toy making a try. One of his sons, Godtfred helped out with the business and together they just barely kept up the production.

-1934-

Time passed by and sales diminished. Ole thought that if his toy company had a name, word would go around faster and sales would improve. He wanted a name that would convey meaning in ‘playing well’. In Danish, playing well is ‘Leg Godt’. Eventually, the name Lego was decided. But what Ole didn’t know was that in Latin, Lego means ‘I put together’. The name was highly favoured. By the end of the year, they had 42 different wooden toy designs and sales were going extremely well.

A while later the company grew and they purchased a milling machine. Production was exponentially faster and of higher quality. One day Ole asked Godtfred to finish the lacquer on the wooden ducks. However, Godtfred only applied two layers instead of three. Ole was furious and asked Godtfred to unpack them all and apply the last layer. This lesson was Ole’s greatest quotes,

                                            “Only the best is good enough,”

-1939-

In the late 1930's, Lego was making a profit and even when World War II broke out they attempted their best to remain in the market. At this time Lego had over 50 different types of blueprints for the toys they made. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. But a cold blizzardy night changed everything. The workshop had caught on fire and despite calling the fire brigade, it was impossible to save the toys, let alone the blueprints. He almost lost his company. Everything seemed to be downing downhill again.

Ole was not the type of person to give up and with his children and workers by his side, he decided to rebuild a new Lego workshop.

-1946-

Gradually, the Lego company began it ascends back into the market again and they were back into making a profit. One day Ole went to Copenhagen in Denmark to a machine convention. But his main purpose was to see the new machine that was brought into Denmark. A plastic moulding machine. With all the possibilities that they could make, he decided to purchase it and bring it back home to the new workshop.

There was something on his mind. At the convention, Ole had been given a sample made by the machine. I was an interlocking brick. This is where the Lego brick company started. From having no money at all, burnt down workshop and losing his most loved individual, Ole Kirk Christiansen moved on to be one of the world’s most successful business owners. In his later years, he passed on the company to his son Godtfred and the company kept passing through the generations. Lego now has over 11 Legoland theme parks and over 1.5 million visitors annually. From wooden toys to the bricks we know now, it took a long journey with lots of hard work.

-1891-

世界领先的玩具公司创始人之一和最鼓舞人心的人。 Ole Kirk Christiansen出生于1891年，丹麦Filskov，Kirstine Christiansen和Jens Niels Christiansen。 Ole是他们家中十个孩子中最小的一个。他们非常贫穷，因为Ole和他的九个兄弟只上过基础教育直到高中。在高中的14岁时，他对他的哥哥克里斯蒂安·邦德·克里斯蒂安森（Kristian Bonde Christiansen）的翼下的木工和学徒充满了热情。然后在1911年，Ole前往德国担任木匠约五年。 Ole于1916年回归时，他与Kirstine Sorensen结婚。仅仅四年后，他们就有了他们的第一个孩子，Karl Georg Kirk Christiansen。第二年，他们有了他们的第二个儿子Godtfred Kirk Christiansen。后来他们还有两个儿子。那时Ole仍然在做木匠的训练和训练。

-1930-

1930年，Ole搬到了比隆并开设了他的木工车间。他开始生产木制梯子，熨衣板和凳子。他雇用了六名工人并训练他们变得和他一样好。几年后的1932年，由于1930年代的大萧条，奥莱不得不解雇他的最后一名工人。当Ole认为事情不会变得更糟时，同年他的妻子去世了。由于他的四个儿子的责任，他必须做点什么。有一天，奥利有一个想法，他沿着鸭子做了一个木制的拉。这让他的男孩们很开心，他决定尝试玩具。他的一个儿子，Godtfred帮助了他们的业务，他们只是勉强维持生产。

-1934-

时间过去了，销售额减少了。 Ole认为，如果他的玩具公司有一个名字，那么这个词就会更快，销售也会有所改善。他想要一个能够在'好好玩'中传达意义的名字。在丹麦语中，打得好就是'Leg Godt'。最终，乐高这个名字被决定了。但Ole不知道的是，在拉丁语中，乐高意味着“我把它放在一起”。这个名字非常受欢迎。截至年底，他们有42种不同的木制玩具设计，销售情况非常好。

一段时间后，公司发展壮大并购买了一台铣床。生产呈指数级增长，质量更高。有一天，奥莱要求戈特弗雷德完成木鸭的漆面。但是，Godtfred只应用了两层而不是三层。 Ole非常愤怒，并要求Godtfred打开所有包装并应用最后一层。这一课是Ole最伟大的引语，

                                            “只有最好的才够好，”

-1939-

在20世纪30年代后期，乐高正在盈利，即使在第二次世界大战爆发时，他们也尽力留在市场上。在这个时候，乐高为他们制作的玩具提供了50多种不同类型的蓝图。一切似乎都在顺利进行。但是一个寒冷的暴风雪夜晚改变了一切。车间起火了，尽管打电话给消防队，但是不可能保存玩具，更不用说蓝图了。他几乎失去了他的公司。一切似乎都在下坡了。

Ole不是那种放弃的人，他的孩子和工人在他身边，他决定重建一个新的乐高工作室。

-1946-

渐渐地，乐高公司开始重新进入市场并重新获利。有一天，Ole前往丹麦的哥本哈根参加机器大会。但他的主要目的是看到进入丹麦的新机器。塑料成型机。凭借他们可以做出的所有可能性，他决定购买并将其带回新车间。

他心中有些想法。在大会上，Ole给了机器制作的样品。我是一个互锁的砖块。这是乐高砖业公司的起点。从没有钱，烧毁工作室和失去他最爱的人，Ole Kirk Christiansen后来成为世界上最成功的企业主之一。在晚年，他将公司传给了他的儿子Godtfred，公司不断传承下去。乐高现在拥有超过11个乐高主题公园，每年有超过150万游客。从木制玩具到我们现在所知的砖块，经过漫长的旅程需要大量的努力。