Subject:
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A Lego History Project
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 6 Nov 2005 23:49:33 GMT
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For sime time I have been working on a site about Lego history.
Although there are plenty of Lego timelines and histories on the internet none
are sufficiently complete for the AFOL. I hope this project solves some of these
issues. The site is not online yet but here is the beginning of my timeline
without the photos, set images, parts, tables, or any of the cool stuff. In
effect, a teaser. Let me know what you think.
***************************************************
1891 - Introduction
The Kirk Christiansens
For 3 generations Lego has been owned and run by a single family; the Kirk
Christiansens of Billund, Denmark. Ole Kirk Christiansen was born 7 April 1891
in Filskov, a small village in the farming and dairy country of central Jutland.
One of 10 children in a poor family he was put to work as soon as possible. He
attended school 2 days a week learning reading and writing and spent the rest of
the time tending the family’s livestock. At age 13 he was apprenticed to his
older brother, Kristian Bonde Christiansen, who was a carpenter. After learning
the basics of the trade he worked in Germany and Norway from 1911 to 1916.
Ole returned to Billund at the age of 25 and with his savings from working
abroad he bought a woodworking shop where he began his carpentry work and later
his toy business. He married Kirstine Sorensen, whom he met while in Norway,
around 1916. They had 4 sons: Johannes (b.1917), Karl Georg (1919), Godtfred (8
Jul 1920) and Gerhardt (1926). Kirstine died in 1932, leaving OKC to look after
the children. Two years later he married Sofie Jorgensen and they had a
daughter, Ulla (1935).
Early on, Ole involved his children in the business. Godtfred began working in
the company when he was 12, by the age of 17 he was designing models and by age
24 he was his father’s right hand man. He was named Junior Vice President in
1950. The next year Ole suffered a stroke and Godtfred assumed most of the
management responsibilities as Ole’s heath declined. Godtfred became managing
director in 1957 and chairman in 1958 after Ole died.
In fact, all of OKC’s children were involved in the business. By the late 1940’s
Karl Georg was in charge of plastics production, Gerhardt was in charge of wood
manufacturing and Johannes was responsible for truck deliveries.
Godtfred and his wife Edith had 3 children, Gunhild, Kjeld (27 December 1947)
and Hanne. Like his father, Godtfred involved the children in the business at an
early age. Package designs from the 1950’s show all 3 of the children playing
with Lego bricks. In particular, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (the spelling was a
clerical error at his birth) showed promise as an imaginative builder and GKC
looked to him as a source of product development. After his secondary education
Kjeld joined the staff of the German subsidiary as a trainee.
In October 1969 Hanne and Kjeld were driving home from a movie in the
neighboring town of Give. Their car skidded off the road and hit a tree. Hanne
was killed and Kjeld was seriously injured. The tragedy so shook Godtfred that
he seriously considered selling the company.
Kjeld went on to receive a B.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration from
the Arhus School of Business, and then an MBA in 1972 from IMB in Lausanne,
Switzerland. In 1973 he returned to the family enterprise as co-director of the
LEGO Company’s technical R&D department and of its first foreign production
plant in Switzerland. In 1979 he succeeded his father as CEO. Godtfred died 13
July 1995.
Gunhild, who married and is now Gunhild Kirk Johansen, did not follow her
brother into the Lego company but is co-owner (with Kjeld) of Kirkbi AG, the
Swiss holding company that owns the patents and intellectual property of the
Lego Group. Her husband Mogans Johansen sits on the Lego board of directors.
Kjeld married Camilla in 1974 and they have 3 children, Sofie (1975), Thomas
(1977) and Agnetes (1982). It does not appear that any of Kjeld’s children will
succeed him: In October 2004 Kjeld stepped down after 25 years as CEO and the
first non-family member, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, was appointed to run the company.
1916
The Billund Maskinsnedkeri og Tomreforrenting
Ole returned to central Jutland from Norway in 1916, and using his savings from
abroad, bought the Billund Maskinsnedkeri og Tomreforretning (The Billund
Carpentry Shop and Lumberyard), which was originally established in 1895.
At the time Billund was little more than several buildings clustered around the
road that lead from Vejle to Grindsted on the vast heath-covered moors. Most of
the community lived out on the surrounding farms or plantations(plantage). For
over 2 centuries the Danish have tried to cultivate the sandy soil, with varying
amounts of success, and by the turn of the century the area was primarily hog
and dairy farming. Billund was first connected to the railway leading west from
Vejle in 1914 and built it’s first power station in 1917.
About this time Ole married Kirstine Sorensen and they started a family;
Johannes was born in 1917, Karl Georg in 1919, Godtfred in 1920 and Gerhardt in
1926.
Ole would spend the spring and summer working on construction and home repairs
for the farmers and would make furniture in the winter. He started with small
local repair jobs and, as the community began to grow, he began to be awarded
larger projects. An early commission around 1918 for a church hall in Almstok
was followed by diaries in Billund and Randbol and a church in Skjoldberg.
Throughout the 1920’s the business was a struggle. Even in good times the
regions’ farmers were cash-strapped and Ole was often on the verge of
bankruptcy.
In 1924, while their parents were asleep, Karl Georg and Godtfred set fire to
some wood shavings with a glue smelter and the shop and the Kirk Christiansen
house burned to the ground. Undaunted, Ole had an architect draw up plans and
built a new, larger building. In fact, the building was much larger than he
could afford. Ole and his family lived in a single apartment next to the shop in
the back and rented the rest of the rooms out. The new building, which would be
known for its large dormer and 2 lions flanking the front door, is now part of
the Lego group and is one of only a few of Ole’s buildings that still exist.
Oles unshakable self-confidence was rooted in a strong religious faith. His
family had long been active in the Indre Mission, a Danish evangelical movement
of the Lutheran Church. As Godtfred recounts in 1982:
“I am convinced that father’s faith in God, which was evident in everything he
did, helped carry him through his grief and the difficulties that followed...His
faith made him a active man. It gave him the courage and solace that enabled him
to take on new responsibilities - and the strength to see a job through despite
hardship.”
Or, in one of Ole’s classic quotes: “Life is a gift, but it’s more than just
that. Life is a challenge.”
***************************************************
Jim
jhughes.at.fuse.net
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: A Lego History Project
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| (...) Hey Jim, Thanks for the Lego family history. It is very interesting to note that the first Lego outside of Denmark, was sold in Norway in 1953. No we know why! Good Researching!! Gary Istok (19 years ago, 7-Nov-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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