When Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his workshop in Billund, Denmark in 1932, he made wooden furniture and toys. His business was not very profitable and he struggled throughout the 1930s. However, in 1934, he decided to focus on building toys — and changed the name of his company to LEGO which was a contraction of the Danish words “leg godt” (play well).
In the 1960s, the business expanded to other Nordic countries. The company came up with a smaller model, perfect for small hands. It was named DUPLO (after the Latin word duplex which means twofold). This allowed children to make more intricate models.
In the 1970s, Lego began to introduce new features that would help its products stand out from the competition. For example, they added a range of different faces to their minifigures. This change made the figures more real and capable of communicating various emotions and facial expressions. The Lego Group also added wheels to its bricks, opening up the possibility of creating vehicles and other machines that could move.
The next step was to introduce themed themes – systems within systems that allowed users to create a specific environment or situation. This allowed the company to make its brand more well-known and helped them draw an audience that was younger. Additionally the company grew its production by opening factories in South Korea, Malaysia, and Brazil.
