There was a skilled and hardworking carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen . Ole was a respected carpenter with his own company. But, times were hard. So, he didn’t have much money and had to dismiss his last worker.

It got worse shortly after Ole lost his wife. But, he was a special person, he wasn’t the type that gave up and with the responsibility of his four sons, he had to think of something.

He had gotten an idea and for him it never took long to put an idea into action. His little invention made his boys so happy that he thought maybe he should start making toys. He decided to give it a try. Luckily, he had saved up a lot of wood from the carpentry production. He could now use it to make toys.

Time passed by and even though Ole was a skilled carpenter and had a good eye for quality and detail, sales were very slow. Luckily one of his sons Godfrey started helping out his dad after school. Together they just barely managed to keep up the production.

Eventually, word began to spread that wooden toys of the finest quality were being made in the little workshop. One day, a man drove into town, a man who would change Ole’s future. He was a wholesaler from Fredericka. “I’ve heard that you’re making some very nice wooden toys.”

The wholesaler was very impressed with all the wooden toys and placed a big order before he left. Now there was a lot to do in the little workshop and Ole could rehire his former workers. They only used the highest quality wood which was hand-picked and very carefully prepared. They work day and night to get the order finished. So, the wholesaler could get the toys out in stores before Christmas.

In the middle of their work, Ole received a letter saying that the wholesaler had filed for bankruptcy and couldn’t buy the toys that he had ordered. There was no time to lose, only pack the car with all the toys and drove off . Ole was a very good toy maker, but was not a very good salesman. He didn’t like praising himself or talking about how carefully the toys had been made but he had to keep trying.

If he was going to sell anything, this is going to be a blast.In the end, he succeeded in selling all the toys. He didn’t receive as much money as he had hoped. But, the family managed and they had plenty of food for Christmas.

Time passed by, but the toys didn’t sell as quickly as they had expected. Ole thought perhaps the company needed a good name. It has to be a short word, Ole wanted to convey playing. Olay himself ended up finding a very suitable name but what he didn’t know was that in Latin the word leggo means I put together.

The name leggo was well received and the company slowly started to move forward. Eventhough Godfreid wasn’t comfortable spending money on a milling machine, he could see that it was useful and that the quality of the toys improved.

Ole believed in high quality and not cheating his customers.In the late 1930s Lego was making a profit. Even when the second world war broke out, they tried to make the best out of a difficult time. It seemed nothing could go wrong.

But, a stormy night in 1942 changed their luck. “There’s a fire!! The workshop is on fire.”

But, when the firemen arrived, they were unable to save the workshop. It burned to the ground and all the drawings and models were destroyed. Ole was beginning to lose hope. All that he had worked for was gone and he almost lost his company.

But, being responsible for his children and workers inspired him to rebuild LEGO, a new factory was constructed soon. The production of wooden toys started again. The little company fought its way back into the market.

Gradually, the Lego factory began to run smoothly and Ole started looking for new challenges. One day, he went to Copenhagen to look at a new machine that had just arrived in Denmark. It was a plastic moulding machine and Ole was very excited about it.

When the plastic molding machine finally arrived they started making little plastic teddy bears and rattles. But, he still had the plastic bricks that he had received at the fair. There was something about them that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even though no one else could see the potential in it Ole decided to redesign and put them into production. But, it was when Lego first launched the Great Ferguson tractor that the plastic toys became a success.

Unfortunately, the sales were dropping during the summer and the company had too many toys in stock. “This can’t be right of course our products can be sold the whole year, not only for Christmas. “

Godfreid decided that he would go out and sell the toys himself . Godfreid brought his wife Edith as company and moral support. “If you can’t get cash, then we lead by butter and eggs.”

It wasn’t that bad, Godfreid was a success in his trip around the country, which helped Lego to get out of its financial crisis. They reached home just in time for Ole’s birthday party.

The whole family was gathered to celebrate with him. “Hey, I got an idea, what about a picture with the three generations”

Everyone thought that was a good idea and they were placed on the sofa with all the presents and flowers around them. On a business trip to England, Gottfried met the head of a big shopping center on his way home. They discussed the toy industry and the conversation would be very important to the future of Lego.

“The toys need an idea and a system built around it. I want to put system into play. Children have only been offered ready-made solutions. They need something different that will strengthen their imagination and creativity.”

That same year, Lego started producing the first Lego system of play. Children could now build houses from the Lego bricks, the town plan gave play a realistic town setting and with this, children learned about traffic safety.

Godfreid decided to try selling it outside of Denmark. The system of clay was so popular that they managed to sell it to many countries. There was just one problem, the bricks can’t lift up. They keep falling apart. That made Godfreid wonder. He wanted to find a way to make the Lego bricks stick together. But, that was easier said than done. Godfreid noticed that the Lego bricks got a better clutch power with tubes inside.

Now, it was no longer just bricks, but a whole construction system with endless possibilities. This was groundbreaking for the Lego product. With a child’s imagination, Lego could be anything in the world. Over and over again the imagination is the limit.

Unfortunately Ole never got to see how successful the little brick actually became. Godfreid was left on his own and he had to go through another fire at Lego that destroyed most of the wood production.

Just like his father Godfreid knew that he had to try to get the best out of any situation and never give up. Godfrid took the hard times with his 1head held high. As sales grew, the company also got bigger. He had to think ahead and he decided not to resume the production of wooden toys and to only focus on the Lego system.

It turned out to be a great decision. Many new models were built and Lego got stronger in the toy industry. Eventhough it got busier at Lego, Godfried still had bigger plans now.

He wanted to build an airport so it would be easier to sell his toys to the whole world. It didn’t take long to put his idea into action.Only three years later, Billund airport was open. The many guests and business connections who visited the company always wanted to see the modeling department.

Gradually, it got so crowded that it was hard for the employees to keep up their work. “I think we better wait awhile.”

Godfrid could see that something had to be done, he needed a bigger place to display the lego models. “I don’t want to interrupt, so I’ll just put this package of our new Lego train on the table. Just put it there.”

The idea grew quickly from an exhibition room to an amusement park and then we could have a tower. So, you could look over the whole park from above the whole town, it will be a land made out of Lego.

Legoland looks interesting, but how many visitors are you actually counting on. There were six hundred thousand guests the very first year, the family was there to greet the guests. They’ve kept up this tradition ever since now.

Stay tuned with Zeeable for more of such updates!!

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