Subject:
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Ole Kirk Christiansen - the early years
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lugnet.general
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Thu, 1 Nov 2007 10:14:37 GMT
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Every major corporation likes to start its history with how poor the founder was
and how unlikely it’ success was. However in Lego’s case it’s true.
So here is the early history of Ole Kirk Christiansen. The formative years, as
it were. Let me know what you think.
Ole Kirk Christiansen was born 7 Apr 1981 in the rural Central Jutland village
of Filskov to Jens Niels Christiansen and Kirstine Christiansen.(1) Jens Niels
was what was known as a smallholder - he owned a small farm. For over two
centuries the Danes have tried, with varying amounts of success, to cultivate
the regions’ sandy soil and by the turn of the century the area was primarily
hog or dairy farming. Or, as Harold Foght stated in his classic 1915 treatise on
Danish education:
“Taken as a whole, nature has treated Denmark in a stepmotherly fashion so far
as riches of soil are concerned. The fact that the country is producing great
crops from the land is not because of any fresh, virgin fertility or other
natural resource; but because of the broad, general intelligence to the work of
building up a naturally meager soil, forcing it to produce more and more.“(2)
Jens, with a small farm and working with poor soil, had to work on the
surrounding farms to provide for his family. By all accounts the family, grew up
in hardship and poverty. The Christiansens had 10 children and all were expected
to help with the farm chores as soon as possible. In one example often repeated
in official Lego PR, Ole was sent out at age six to watch the family’s sheep.
Ole spent two days a week in a local school learning to read and write and, like
most of the rural children at the time, would spent the rest of the time working
on the farm. At most he received a grade school education.
What carried the family though these difficult circumstances was their faith in
God. The Christiansens, and Kirstine in particular, were devout followers of
Indre Mission, an evangelical offshoot of the Danish Lutheran Church. As
Godtfred recounted in a 1982 interview:
“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.” (3)
Ole was not destined for any further formal education. He followed the path of
most poor rural boys and instead learned a trade. After his Lutheren
confirmation at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to an older brother, Kristian
Bonde Christiansen, to learn carpentry and joinery. He spent the next four years
studying under his brother and was awarded a journeyman’s certificate on 24 Aug
1911.
Having completed his apprenticeship, and realizing that there was no real work
to be had in Filskov, he left to seek his fortunes abroad, He worked in Germany
from 1911-1912 and Norway from 1912-1916. It was here in Norway that he met his
first wife, Kirstine Sörensen.
After he had saved up enough money Ole and his new wife returned to Denmark.
They settled in Billund, just 30 km southeast of his birthplace in Filskov. In
1916 Ole used his saving to purchase the Billund Maskinsnedkeri og
Tømreforretning (The Billund Carpentry Shop and Lumberyard), which had been
originally established in 1895.
Life in Billund was much like that in Filskov 20 years earlier. At the time the
village was really nothing more than several buildings clustered around the
road, and later the railway, between Vejle and Grindsted.(4) One writer
described the village in the early 1920’s as “A God-forsaken railway
stopping-point where nothing could possibly thrive.” Most of the population
lived on the surrounding farms or plantage (plantations). Life was difficult for
the farmers and, perhaps, even more for the tradesman and craftsman who
supported them.
Ole and Kirstine quickly started their own family: Johannes was born in 1917,
Karl Georg in 1919, Godtfred on 8 July 1920 and Gerhardt in 1926.
Ole would spend the spring and summer working on any construction or home repair
jobs he could find. In the winter he would make furniture and stock up on doors
and windows. He started with small jobs and, as the community slowly began to
grow and his reputation for honest, quality work spread, 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 Skjoldborg. But
throughout the 1920s Ole’s business was a struggle. Even in the best of times
the regions’ farmers were cash-strapped and Ole was often on the verge of
bankruptcy.
There have been no less at four major fires that affected the company, and the
first occured in 1924. On a Sunday afternoon, while their parents were sleeping,
Karl Georg (then 5 years old) and Godtfred (4) were playing in the shop and set
fire to some wood shavings with a glue smelter. 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. The new 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 other rooms out. The new building, which would be known
for its large dormer and two 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.
It was the combination of the hardships of farm life and his devout religious
faith that would help shape Ole’s character. As Ole himself states in his most
famous quote:
“Life is a gift, but it’s more than just that. Life is a challenge.“(5)
But that dosent completely explain Ole’s success. In addition to his Lutheran
traits of hard work, honesty and loyalty, Ole was also somewhat of a maverick
and had an optimism that was hard to explain under the circumstances. Against
the advice of his family he would build larger workshops and factories and
continually invest in new equiptment. None of which he could afford. It would be
these qualities that would allow him to survive an upbringing in poverty, two
World Wars, and a worldwide depression.
1. nee Anderson
2. Foght, Harold W. Rural Denmark and its Schools. Macmillan, New York, 1915
3. The Lego Group. 50 Years of Play. Lego, Billund. 1982
4. Billund received its first telephone in 1902. The railway station was built
in 1914 and the first electric generator was built in 1917. By 1930 the official
population was 1,046.
5. I dont know the original source of this quote but feel free to use 50 Years
of Play as one reference.
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