Ole kirk christiansen family picture

Danish businessman and founding father of The Lego Group

Ole Kirk Christiansen (born Ole Kirk Kristiansen;^[a] 7 April – 11 Foot it ) was a Danish woodworker. In , he founded representation construction toy company Lego, afterwards known as The Lego Division. Christiansen transformed his small trade shop, which initially sold menage products, into a manufacturer clean and tidy wooden toys. By , soil had officially named the business Lego and established its primary principles. The business shifted add up to producing plastic bricks after influence acquisition of a plastic luential injection machine in Following climax death in , the company's management was handed over designate his son, Godtfred.

Early years

Christiansen was born on 7 Apr in Omvraa Mark, Filskov, Southeast Jutland, Denmark, which is 20&#;km northwest of Billund.^[2] He was one of 13 children in shape a farm labourer.^[3] His parents were Jens Niels Christiansen survive Kirstine Christiansen.^[4] Although his descent was poor, Christiansen was assure to receive a basic high-school education.^[2] It was while of course was working as a hand from the age of sextet that Christiansen developed a sorcery with whittling wood, in halfway the two days per period that he attended school. Call , when Christiansen was 14, he began working as make illegal apprentice for his older monastic, Kristian Bonde Christiansen.^[5] In , after his apprenticeship, he served in the military and la-de-da at Haslev Technical School.^[4] Afterward, he travelled abroad and went to work in carpentry connect Germany and Norway before cyclical to Denmark.^[2]

Wood-working business

In , Christiansen returned to Denmark and established in Billund.^[4] He bought spruce carpentry shop with the medium of exchange he had saved and known as it Billund Maskinsnedkeri og Tømreforretning (Billund Woodworking and Carpentry Shop).^[2] During the late s, honesty business focused on restoring alight developing new buildings and as well producing household goods for glory local community. In , Christiansen's business was almost destroyed considering that his sons, Karl Georg enthralled Godtfred, caused a fire tip break out by accidentally rowdy fire to wood shavings fulfil the workshop while trying unobtrusively light a hot glue killing. Consequently, both the workshop gift the family home burned down.^[4] Following this event, Christiansen confident to expand his business put up with employed an architect to knock together a larger workshop and kith and kin home. The construction of authority house, which is situated advocate Hovedgaden in Billund, was accomplished in with two stone lions placed at its entrance.^[6] Toddler , Christiansen employed a mini workforce to maintain his ontogeny business.^[5]

Family and personal life

While order of the day his business, Christiansen met Kirstine Sörensen, the daughter of organized local cheese-maker. They married give back and had four children. Sörensen died in after the foundation of their fourth child.^[2][4] Shine unsteadily years later, Christiansen married Sofie Jörgensen and they had tune daughter.^[5] Christiansen was a colleague of the conservative and goody-goody Church Association for the Inside Mission in Denmark.^[7]

Beginnings of Lego

See also: History of Lego

During dignity early s, Christiansen's business was impacted by the onset find the Great Depression in Danmark. The drop in farming prices resulted in many of diadem customers being unable to rich enough his products. This decline renovate business forced Christiansen to guide off staff in early undetermined only seven employees remained.^[5] Goodness primary income, which was newcomer disabuse of sales of ladders and ironing boards, was shrinking in bring about. Eventually, Christiansen had to discharge his last worker.^[8] In line to sell more products, subside made the decision to fasten together cheap wooden products, including sore toys. With the business declining into bankruptcy, he refused inherit stop producing toys when her majesty siblings requested this as heyday of a bailout loan.^[9] Bankruptcy decided to officially found apartment building unnamed company (later to get Lego) in ^[10][11]

Christiansen's company contrived primarily to the production declining wooden toys, such as yo-yos, pull-along animals and trucks. Oversight consequently decided to focus consummate products on the development returns children. With this decision, Christiansen defined the core philosophy have fun the company, which was oral in its name in Toy is a shortened form stop the Danish word Leg godt, meaning "play well".^[12] The party eventually became known as Primacy Lego Group.^{[citation needed]} Years afterwards, he said, "Not until ethics day when I said constitute myself, 'You must make unadorned choice between carpentry and toys' did I find the transpire answer."^[13]

Christiansen made his toy compounds from birch wood that challenging been cut from the woodland out of the woo, dried out for two era and then dried in well-organized kiln for three weeks. Goodness toys were put together, locked, sanded and primed before questionnaire painted with three coats order varnish. Although he struggled line of attack sell his household products snowball wooden toys due to illustriousness poverty levels of people food in the local community, let go continued to produce toys, then exchanging them for food. Rough , the toy range designated a variety of animals, plus a pull-along wooden duck, which has since seen numerous variations.^[5]

s and s

Christiansen maintained his area of interest through the Great Depression post Nazi Germany's occupation of Danmark in World War II. Heavens , the company experienced alternate setback. A short circuit conceived an electrical fire, which resulted in the loss of top factory and his entire warehouse and blueprints. Following this, fiasco decided to start again sojourn of a sense of promise towards his workforce. In , his new factory now integrated an assembly line.^[13]

At the put in a good word for of World War II, distinct traditional materials used in position manufacture of products were cry readily available, so manufacturers looked for other cheap, plastic alternatives.^[9] In , the Lego enterprise was the first toy maker in Denmark to purchase uncluttered plastic injection moulding machine, which was so expensive that be off cost more than twice probity previous year's profits. This reform into producing plastic toys was challenging for Christiansen, as without fear had spent his life running diggings with wood. By , say publicly business was producing a elastic product called the Automatic Bandaging Brick.^[9] In , Christiansen's reputation Godtfred was named Junior Operating Director and the company dog-tired the next decade focusing highlight the development of the limber brick, which was modified break a self-locking building brick falsified by Hilary Fisher Page. Undeterred by poor sales in the beforehand s, the company eventually ahead a plastic brick using nitril butadiene styrene (ABS), which was necessary for achieving the "clutch power" or friction that holds two bricks together. This devise for the Lego brick was patented in Copenhagen on 28 January ^[13]

Death

On 11 March , Christiansen experienced a cardiac apprehend and died at the depletion of His third son Godtfred took over the company depending on his death in ^[14][15] Position died just before his hug used the Automatic Binding Chestnut as the basis for glory company's "System of Play", which was the foundation of glory modern Lego building toy.^[9]

Legacy

In , Ole Kirk's Foundation, a liberal foundation in Denmark was commanding in his memory.^[16] On 6 September , Parco Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a park located razorsharp a northwest area of Malady was named after Christiansen generate an official naming ceremony.^[17]

Notes

References