When was godtfred kirk christiansen born

Gearwheels joined dollhouse furniture, ships and minifigures in the variety of LEGO toys. Today, LEGO remains a privately-held company. GKC doubts that his high product standards and ethical code would be upheld by public shareholders, and he constantly reminds those around him of the motto which hung on the wall of his father's workshop, "Only the best is good enough for our children," a motto which he lived and worked by throughout his life.

More in this section Click to expose navigation links on mobile. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Those toys are the building blocks known as LEGOs.

Christiansen was born in in Filskov, Denmark, a small village north of the Danish town of Billund. He was educated up until high school, and then began working in a factory, eventually becoming a woodworker and master carpenter. He set up his own business in Billund in Among the products he made were stepladders, ironing boards, and wooden toys — which would become his specialty.

This time, however, his business was dedicated to creating toys. The company became the first in Denmark to buy a plastic molding machine. These designs were more complex and often required jig work from a pattern; a pattern that Ole would carefully draft himself. The animal models were produced until Over time, Ole expanded the range with more, and more complex, wooden designs. In addition to the many car, truck and animal models there were also sailboats, tractors, cranes, farm implements, coat hangers, doll buggies, sewing machines, bagatelle games, traditional wooden blocks, chalkboards, board games, and an abacus.

For the next five years, Denmark would be under German occupation. On the night of 22 March , a short circuit caused an electrical fire and the LEGO factory and warehouse burned down. As before, Ole rebuilt and carried on.

He took out several loans and built a new, larger square-metre building on the same grounds as the old workshop. By , LEGO had 40 employees. It was the forerunner of the LEGO brick. Around the end of the war, Godtfred married Dana, the daughter of a cheesemaker from a neighboring village, and they started a family. In he was visited by a salesman from Hull who represented a British machine-tool company trying to find new markets for their injection molding equipment.

Against the advice of those around him, he bought one of the machines. We have been convinced that it was a l engthy development process carried out by a team of LEGO employees in the mid to late s. The problem is discussed at length, and several ideas and solutions are put forward. At some point, Godtfred finds a piece of paper with circles on, and starts to sketch the different ideas for a new brick design. He is instructed to make a sample of the new brick design with two inner clutch tubes.

However, on his way home to Billund, he ponders over the idea of creating a new design for a brick with three inner clutch tubes instead of two.

When he reaches Billund, he has come to the conclusion that three tubes will work better than two, because it will provide even better interlocking action. He has Ove Nielsen create a new brick sample by cutting up and gluing together existing elements.

This new three-tube design is then sent to the patent office with express courier. Only a few days later, on January 28, at precisely 1. A system in which two or several interlocking plastic building elements can be put together in a great number of mutually different positions — or as it is more widely referred to: The patent of the LEGO brick.

Posted July 8, Wow, only five days? Thank you for sharing this article with us. My Dad told me a slightly different version of this story decades ago. I don't know if there is any truth to it, but it might be worth looking into it further. He had a deep appreciation for the company, and for Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. I don't think he ever met any of the Christiansen family, as I'm sure he would have mentioned it, but he did know several of the early employees.