Ole Kirk Kristiansen began his career not with plastic bricks, but with wood. He was a skilled carpenter in Billund, Denmark, running a small workshop creating furniture and wooden toys. When the Great Depression hit, times were tough, but Ole Kirk focused on making high-quality wooden toys that brought joy to children.
His motto was 'Det bedste er ikke for godt,' which means 'Only the best is good enough.' This commitment to quality was central to his work. In 1934, he named his company LEGO, derived from the Danish words 'leg godt,' meaning 'play well.'
After World War II, plastic became more available. Ole Kirk saw the potential and invested in an expensive plastic injection molding machine, a risky move at the time. He began producing small plastic toys, including a set of 'Automatic Binding Bricks' in 1949. These early bricks could stack, but didn't lock together firmly.
It was Ole Kirk's son, Godtfred, who later refined the design, adding the crucial tubes inside the bricks in 1958. This 'stud-and-tube' system created the interlocking mechanism that made LEGO bricks so versatile and stable, paving the way for the global phenomenon LEGO is today. Ole Kirk laid the foundation with his craftsmanship, belief in quality, and willingness to innovate.