Ole Kirk Christiansen - Inventor of lego
Artwork by Lola, age 10
Words by Lola, age 10
Ole Kirk Christiansen
Born: 7 April 1981
Died: 11 March 1958
Known for: being the inventor of Lego!
Ole Kirk Christiansen was a Danish man who founded the Lego company.
Ole was born on the 7th of April, 1891 in Filskov, South Jutland, Denmark. He was the tenth child of a poor family, but still went to high school.
In 1911, Ole left Denmark to go to Germany. There he worked as a carpenter for five years. Ole bought Billund Woodworking and Carpentry shop with saved up money, and he made a good living from that.
Ole married Kristine Sorensen and they had four kids: Johannes, Karl, Godtfred, and Gerhardt. Sadly, in 1924, a fire broke out and Ole’s factory and house burned down.
During the Great Depression, Ole made toys and Chistmas tree stands, but no one went to his shop. Eventually, Ole had to let his last worker go. Shortly after this, Kristine, Ole’s wife, died.
Then Ole decided to found an unnamed company, that was later named LEGO. The company focused mainly on toys. They used high quality birch wood, and the company made a good amount of money.
Ole’s son, Godtfred, became his second in command.
Ole wanted a name for his company, so he launched a competition to name his company, and even made up his own name for the competition, and won it himself!
The name was LEGO, short for the Danish words leg godt, which means ‘play well’. Ole’s company grew through the 1940s and 1950s. In 1947, Ole bought a self-moulding machine and began making plastic toys, and on 28 January, 1958, the plastic Lego brick was created!
On the 11th of March, 1958, Ole had a heart-attack and sadly died at the age of 66. Godtfred took over the Lego company.
Ole was a man who created a lot of joy for everyone.