When Ole Kirk Christiansen founded his workshop in Billund, Denmark in 1932 the workshop was a woodworking facility that made toys and furniture. The business was not very successful and he struggled through the beginning of the 30s. In 1934, he began to concentrate on toys and changed the name of the company to LEGO. This is an abbreviation of “leg godt” which is the Danish word that means “play well”.
The company expanded into other Nordic countries in the 1960s. The company also created smaller bricks that were ideal for children with small hands and named it DUPLO in honor of the Latin word duplex (two-fold). This allowed children to build more lego store sets intricate models.
In the 1970s Lego began to introduce new features that helped its products stand apart from the competition. They added different faces to the miniature figures. This made the minifigures appear more real and allowed them to express different expressions and emotions. The Lego Group added wheels to their bricks, which allowed the creation of vehicles and other machines.
The company’s next step was when it launched dedicated themes — systems within the system that let users to design their own world or situation. This allowed the company to make its brand more recognizable and helped them attract an increasingly younger audience. Additionally the company grew its production, opening factories in South Korea, Malaysia, and Brazil.