Ole Kirk Christiansen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ole Kirk Christiansen
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| Founder and 1st Leader of The Lego Group | |
| In office 10 August 1932 – 11 March 1958 |
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| Succeeded by | Godtfred Kirk Christiansen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ole Kirk Kristiansen
7 April 1891 Omvraa Mark, Filskov, South Jutland, Denmark |
| Died | 11 March 1958 (aged 66) Billund, Denmark |
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest |
| Resting place | Billund, Denmark |
| Spouses |
Kirstine Sörensen
(m. 1916; died 1932)Sofie Jörgensen
(m. 1934) |
| Children | 5, including Godtfred |
| Occupation | Carpenter |
| Known for | Founding The Lego Group |
Ole Kirk Christiansen (born Ole Kirk Kristiansen; 7 April 1891 – 11 March 1958) was a Danish carpenter. He is famous for founding The Lego Group, the company that makes the popular Lego building toys. In 1932, he started his business, which first sold household items. Later, he changed it to focus on wooden toys. By 1934, he officially named his company Lego. After 1947, his company began making plastic bricks. When he passed away in 1958, his son, Godtfred, took over the business.
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Early Life and Learning
Ole Kirk Christiansen was born on 7 April 1891 in a small place called Omvraa Mark in Denmark. This was about 20 kilometers northwest of Billund, where Lego's headquarters are now. He grew up in a large family with 12 brothers and sisters. His parents were farmers, and his family was not wealthy.
Even though his family was poor, Ole got a basic high school education. From the age of six, he worked on a farm. He only went to school two days a week. During his free time, he loved carving wood. This hobby helped him discover his passion for woodworking.
In 1905, when Ole was 14, he started working as an apprentice for his older brother, Kristian. After his apprenticeship in 1911, he joined the military. He also studied at Haslev Technical School. Later, he traveled to Germany and Norway to work as a carpenter before returning to Denmark.
Starting His Woodworking Business
In 1916, Ole Christiansen came back to Denmark and settled in Billund. He used his savings to buy a carpentry shop. He named it Billund Woodworking and Carpentry Shop. In the late 1920s, his business focused on building and fixing houses. It also made household items for people in the area.
In 1924, a fire almost destroyed Ole's business. His sons, Karl Georg and Godtfred, accidentally started a fire while trying to light a glue machine. Both the workshop and their family home burned down. After this, Ole decided to make his business bigger. He hired an architect to build a larger workshop and a new family home. This new house was finished in 1924 and had two stone lions at its entrance. By 1930, Ole's business was growing, and he had several employees.
The Birth of Lego
In the early 1930s, Ole's business faced hard times because of the Great Depression. Many of his customers could not afford his products. This meant he had to let go of most of his workers. He was left with only seven employees, and soon, he had to let go of his last worker too.
To keep his business going, Ole decided to make cheaper wooden products, including wooden toys. Even when his family offered him a loan to save his business, they asked him to stop making toys. But Ole refused. He believed in his toys and officially started his unnamed toy company in 1932. This company later became Lego.
Ole's company then focused mainly on making wooden toys like yo-yos, pull-along animals, and trucks. He wanted his products to help children learn and grow through play. In 1934, he named his company "Lego." This name comes from the Danish words Leg godt, which mean "play well." The company eventually became known as The Lego Group. Ole once said that he found his true calling when he decided to focus only on toys.
He made his toys from birch wood. The wood was dried for two years, then in a special oven for three weeks. The toys were carefully put together, sanded, and painted with three coats of varnish. Even though it was hard to sell toys because people were poor, he kept making them. Sometimes, he even traded toys for food. By 1935, his toy range included many animals, like a famous pull-along wooden duck.
Growth and Plastic Bricks
Ole Christiansen managed to keep his business alive through the Great Depression and World War II. In 1942, his company faced another challenge when an electrical fire destroyed his factory, all his stock, and his plans. But Ole felt responsible for his workers, so he decided to rebuild. By 1944, his new factory had an assembly line.
After World War II, many traditional materials were hard to find. Manufacturers started looking for cheaper plastic options. In 1947, Lego was the first toy company in Denmark to buy a plastic injection molding machine. This machine was very expensive, costing more than twice the company's profits from the year before. It was a big change for Ole, who had spent his life working with wood.
By 1949, the company was making a plastic product called the Automatic Binding Brick. In 1950, Ole's son, Godtfred, became a junior managing director. For the next ten years, the company worked on improving the plastic brick. They used a special plastic called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). This plastic was important for creating the "clutch power," which is the friction that holds two Lego bricks together. The design for the modern Lego brick was patented in Copenhagen on 28 January 1958.
His Legacy
Ole Kirk Christiansen passed away on 11 March 1958, at the age of 66, due to a cardiac arrest. His third son, Godtfred, took over the company. Ole died just before his son used the Automatic Binding Brick to create the company's "System of Play." This system became the foundation of the modern Lego building toy we know today.
In 1964, the Ole Kirk's Foundation was created in Denmark to honor his memory. This foundation is a charitable organization. On 6 September 2023, a park in Rome, Italy, was named Parco Ole Kirk Kristiansen in his honor.
See also
In Spanish: Ole Kirk Christiansen para niños
