Of the largest toy manufacturers in the world, The Danish LEGO Group has manufactured over 400 Billion LEGO bricks since founded in 1932. That is roughly 62 individual LEGO bricks per person across the globe. CRAZY!
Ole Kirk Kristiansen of Denmark founded the LEGO group making wooden toys for children. The name LEGO came from the combination of two Danish words, “leg godt” meaning “play well.” Kristiansen began designing wooden toys at the age of 17, and began plastic moulding in 1946. He had a passion for creating high quality products with only the best materials, and is quoted saying “we want only the best — using the best plastic and best materials for our bricks.”
The LEGO brick was an idea Kristiansen had the idea for the plastic bricks in 1946 and after acquiring the plastic mould machine, began making the bricks for his children. After noticing the joy and creativity brought by the bricks, he decided to take the bricks to the public German market in 1956. At the time, they were not called “LEGO’s” as we know them today, that was simply the name of his company. When he began selling the bricks in 1956, he called them “Automatic Binding Bricks” which is way less cool than LEGO, and quite the mouth full.
It wasn’t until 7 years later that Kristiansen launched his first LEGO building set, which was a small house. LEGO’s today are known for the endless creative ability they offer to kids and adults alike. Most people can remember their first LEGO set and are far more complex and interesting than the simple design initially released in Germany.
Today, the largest set available is set number 10276, with 9,036 pieces. By the way, the set numbers are sequential, meaning LEGO has created and sold over 10,276 individual sets since 1963. The LEGO Group has come a very long way in creativity and complexity of sets as time has gone by, and has become a staple in children’s lives. LEGO’s can be found all across the globe and is an indistinguishable brand across every language and sold in almost every store.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/the-lego-group-history/
