This week’s profile is a generational story about fathers, sons, and a family company. Managing Director passed from the founder, to the founder’s son, and then the founder’s grandson, and the business grew and flourished more with each generation.
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s first lesson in maintaining quality in production came from his father, Ole Kirk Christiansen. Godtfred proudly reported to his father that he had saved the family’s toy business some money by applying only 2 coats of varnish to a batch of wooden ducks instead of the typical three coats. In response, Ole demanded that Godtfred retrieve the boxes of wooden ducks, unpack them, apply another coat of varnish to the ducks, and repack and ship them. Ole insisted that Godtfred complete the work alone and before going to bed. The lesson in maintaining quality standards would resonate throughout Godtfred’s life.
Godtfred was born in 1920 in Billund, Denmark, to a poor family. His father, Ole, owned the Billund Woodworking and Carpentry Shop, which produced wooden furniture. At the age of four, Godtfred and his brother Karl Georg accidentally caused a fire with a glue heater, and burned the family’s shop to the ground.
During the 1930s, the family business suffered from the Great Depression, and Ole refocused the business on the production of household essentials, such as ironing boards, stepladders, and small wooden toys. In 1932, Ole founded a new company that would become known as Lego. The name “Lego” was taken from the first two letters of each word in the Danish phrase “Leg Godt,” which means “Play well.”
Godtfred developed an interest in Ole’s business at the age of twelve, and helped out in the shop when not attending school. When Godtfred turned seventeen, he started to design wooden toys. While studying at the Hasleve Technical College, Godtfred would send sketches for wooden toys to his father as ideas for new products.
In 1946, the business moved toward production of plastic toys by purchasing a plastic injection-moulding machine. The company introduced a plastic product called the “Automatic Binding Brick,” which was in production by 1949. Ole and Godtfred had drawn inspiration from “Self-Locking Building Bricks,” which were stackable cubes with two rows of four studs, designed by Hilary Fisher Page. Ole and Godtfred modified Page’s design. Initial sales of the original Lego bricks were poor, because the bricks were not sturdy and did not clutch together well.
In 1958, after reviewing customer complaints from customers regarding lack of sturdiness and lack of clutch power, Godtfred sketched some ideas on paper and handed a design to the head of the Lego moulding shop. The design was of a new brick with two inner clutch tubes. On Godtfred’s trip back from the patent office in Copenhagen, Godtfred considered whether three inner tubes would work more effectively, and asked the moulding shop to create a new sample that was sent to the patent office.
Godtfred also developed the “Lego System in Play,” which became the cornerstone of the modern Lego construction toy. In 1954, Godtfred visited a toy exhibition in Britain, and met Troels Peterson, the purchasing manager for the toy department of Magasin du Nord in Copenhagen. Peterson remarked that the toy industry had no system, inspiring Godtfred. He defined six “Principles of Play.” According to the Principles, a toy:
1. Has to be compact in its dimensions without limiting the free expression of imagination.
2. Has to be reasonably priced.
3. Has to be simple and durable and yet offer unlimited variety.
4. Has to be suitable for children of all ages and for both boys and girls.
5. Has to be classic in its presentation, needing no renewal.
6. Has to be easily distributed.
Godtfred found that the Lego brick conformed to all six principles and offered the most possibilities for a system of play. He developed a single, integrated town theme that would allow children to build and accessorize town buildings. The System of Play was launched in February 1955 at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. Despite initial mixed reviews, the System of Play eventually achieved success in Denmark and Germany, and became the core focus of the business. Godtfred explained that, “all elements fit together, can be used in multiple ways, can be built together. This means that bricks bought years ago will fit perfectly with bricks bought in the future.”
Subsequently, Godtfred continued to refine the System of Play by defining the boundaries. He limited the range of shapes and colors produced regardless of the product range. The highly focused, expandable, and integrated system would outlive many competitors.
In 1957, Godtfred was appointed managing director of Lego, and became the head of the company when Ole died in 1958. In 1960, the company’s woodworking factory burned to the ground. The following day, Godtfred decided to retire the production of wooden toys, which were sold only in Denmark, and focus on the production of plastic bricks, which were becoming more widely known throughout Western Europe. Godtfred’s brothers, Karl Georg and Gerhardt, did not agree with Godtfred’s decision, and left the company. Godtfred bought his brothers’ shares and became the sole owner.
In 1961, Godtfred built a private Lego airfield in Billund, to accommodate the company’s internationalization and facilitate travel of business partners and sales executives. The company soon purchases its first plane. In 1964, the airfield was extended and the runway paved. Further, ownership of the airfield was transferred to Billund Airport A.m.b.A., and the new public airport was inaugurated in November 1964. In exchange for running the airport for five years and subsidizing runway expansion, Lego received unobstructed right of use of the airport. Today, Billund Airport is the second largest airport in Denmark.
Also in 1961, Lego commenced production of Lego bricks in the United States and Canada, under a licensing agreement with Samsonite. Samsonite manufactured Lego bricks in Denver on its own molding machines with molds rented from the Lego Group’s tooling factories in Denmark and Germany. Canadian production took place in Stratford, Ontario. However, over time, Lego became dissatisfied with the quality of the bricks produced by Samsonite, and the sale and distribution of Lego sets did not meet Lego’s expectations. In 1972, the license agreement was canceled, and Lego began handling its own production and sales in the United States. In 1973, Lego Group established a U.S. subsidiary, Lego Systems Inc. and rented premises in Brookfield, Connecticut. In 1975, Lego Systems Inc. moved to Enfield, Connecticut. In 2025-26, Lego Group will move the North American Headquarters to Boston.
In 1962, Lego introduced the first wheel element, which had a huge impact on the Lego System in Play. Introduction of the element brought motion to Lego play, plus the ability to launch movable vehicles, including cars and trains.
By the mid-1960s, the number of visitors to the Lego factory continued to increase. Visitors were able to access the factory and the model exhibition, but they began to impede company operations. Godtfred solved the problem by exhibiting the models outdoors at a park. An area of land covering 14 acres in Billund, next to the Lego factory, was transformed into Miniland, a landscape of houses created with Lego bricks. Legoland Billund opened on June 7, 1968, and became one of the largest attaractions in Denmark. Today, there are ten Legoland parks operating throughout the world.
In 1967, the Lego Group patented the Lego Duplo brick, designed for pre-school children. All dimensions of the Duplo brick are exactly twice those of the standard Lego brick; hence, the name “Duplo,” which is Danish for “double.”
The same year, Godtfred stepped down as managing director and assumed the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lego System A/S. Vagn Holck Anderson served as managing director until 1979, when Godtfred’s son Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen took over as CEO. Godtfred remained Chairman until 1993, and died in 1995, at the age of 75.
The Lego brick, and the System of Play, have been shared across at least two generations of children throughout the world. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s design of the inner clutch tube and System of Play philosophy have aided the creativity, imagination, spatial reasoning, dexterity, and intelligence of countless children and adults. Without Godtfred’s original design, Lego would not have become the billion-dollar market leader and the highest-valued toy brand worldwide.