Introduction
Image of Andy Wallace, Official Bugatti Pilot, courtesy of LEGO
To prove the LEGO Technic building system is more than a toy, Aurelien Rouffiange and the LEGO Technics Design team, built a full-size, self-propelled Bugatti Chiron! In this post, we are going to see how they made it!
History of Lego
Image of: courtesy of LEGO
The LEGO company began in the Billund, Denmark, workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, who started making wooden toys in 1932. He came up the name, LEGO; after the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning to play well. Gradually, the LEGO company grew made a profit, and Ole began to search for new innovations in toy making. One day, Ole visited a fair in Copenhagen, where we discovered a new pressing machine. The machine, created small plastic pieces, which could be molded into different shapes. Interested in the possibilities, Ole immediately bought the machine, and started producing plastic teddy bears and rattles.
Sales grew and soon, the company expanded to opening a new factory and its own airport. By 1949, Christiansen's son, Godtfred Kirk, had took over as head of the company, and started the production of small plastic bricks. In the same year, Godtfred, modified the bricks to its signature interlocking studs on the top and tubes on the bottom shape, and patented the design. Godtfred also decided not continue with the production of wooden toys, and switched over to the LEGO play system.
LEGO's brick spread like wildfire throughout Europe, and in 1968 the very first LEGOLAND theme park opened in Billund, with a total of 600,000 visitors. As time went on, Godtfred's son would take over the family business after him, and continue the decades long tradition of inspiring imaginations around the world.
The Power of Technics
Image of: courtesy of LEGO
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Conclusion
The Lego story in itself, is inspiring. Ole had to overcome a lot of adversity in his life, in order to take care of his family, and his workers who depended on him. He never gave up on his ideas, and created a promising life for himself and his family. I especially found it touching, to know that the LEGO Company is a family business, that has been running strong for three generations.
