BRICKS

The invention of the bricks is due to Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a carpenter from Billund. Over time his modest family business grew to become one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world.

In 1916, Christiansen opened a small carpentry shop in Billund, Denmark, where he built homes and furnished interiors for farms in the region, with the help of a small team of apprentices. In 1924, the shop was hit by a serious fire, started by mistake by one of his two young sons. Christiansen did not lose heart and, having recovered from the difficulties, rebuilt a larger shop than the previous one; Despite this, the Great Depression of 1929 did not take long to have consequences on his standard of living.