HISTORY This Week — How LEGO Rebuilt the Toy Itself

Episode Date: October 13, 2025
Host: Ben Dickstein (The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios)
Key Guests: Christian Reimer Haug (LEGO corporate historian), Daniel Konstansky (Blocks Magazine Historian), Chris Byrne (The Toy Guy)

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the transformational story of LEGO — from its humble beginnings as a small carpentry shop in Denmark to its global status as a toy empire. Through on-location storytelling, interviews with historians, and behind-the-scenes peeks, the episode unravels how a shift from wooden toys to the innovative “LEGO System in Play” changed not just LEGO, but the toy industry at large. Central to the story is how LEGO made the audacious decision to create a toy that never becomes obsolete — with each new purchase complementing what the child already owns. The result: a modular, durable, and endlessly creative system that inaugurated a new philosophy in play.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins: From Carpentry to Toys

• Location & Atmosphere ([03:21–07:16])
  Ben Dickstein travels to Billund, Denmark — the “quiet” town where LEGO was born.
  • The LEGO Museum houses a 1950s “Town Plan,” pivotal in LEGO’s evolution.
  • Christian Reimer Haug describes early playsets:

    “The bricks you bought yesterday…fit with the ones you buy today, and they will also fit with the ones you buy tomorrow.” ([06:52])

• Founding Story
  • Ole Kirk Christiansen, born 1891, starts as a carpenter and purchases a struggling woodshop in Billund.
  • The Great Depression leads to a shift — Ole identifies a growing demand for simple, quality toys as a comfort during hardship.
  • “When times are tough, parents tend to want to protect their children a little bit… so that they can play and maybe forget about the realities a little bit.” —Christian Reimer Haug ([10:16])

2. Birth of the LEGO Brand ([11:22–12:03])

• Naming the Company
  • Internal contest for naming fails; Ole combines Danish words lego ("play well"); coincidentally, in Latin lego also means “I assemble.”
• Early Products
  • Wooden toys dominate early years: ducks, animals, and miscellaneous playful creations.
  • The emphasis is always on quality and durability — a standard that shapes LEGO's future.

3. Disaster and Reinvention: War, Fire, and Plastic ([13:06–18:14])

• Resilience Through Adversity
  • Factory burns down in 1942; Ole rebuilds and eyes new materials for the future.
• Advent of Plastic Toys
  • Due to wartime scarcity of quality wood, Ole investigates new plastic molding technology.
  • Among first in Denmark to import a plastic injection molding machine, producing the earliest plastic "automatic binding bricks" in 1949.

4. Innovation of the LEGO “System in Play” ([21:06–26:55])

• Systemic Thinking
  • Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (Ole’s son) conceives the system during a pivotal conversation with department store buyer Truls Petersen:

    “There’s just no system in toys. Can I create a system of toys?” —Christian Reimer Haug ([23:19])

  • Godtfred formulates “Principles of Play”: toys should be modular, affordable, durable, for both boys and girls, and always compatible.
  • “It’s really more a way to think about how we generate ideas for toys, how we approach the products, that it was kind of a system of thought.” —Daniel Konstansky ([24:27])
• The Town Plan (1955)
  • The 1955 Town Plan becomes the first product demonstration of this system — a scale city, endlessly expandable with new sets.

5. The Final Piece: Clutch Power ([26:55–31:36])

• Need for Interlocking Bricks
  • Early bricks lack “clutch power”; their poor stability frustrates both designers and children.
  • Gottfred and engineer Axel Thomsen invent the now-familiar tubes inside the bricks, patented in 1958, creating the satisfying, stable connection:

    “When we get that, the tubes inside, they will stick. That’s just a very, very lovely sound…” —Christian Reimer Haug ([30:19])

6. Legacy and Global Expansion ([31:36–33:38])

• Growth and Innovation
  • Following Ole’s death in 1958, Godtfred leads LEGO through its golden age: inclusion of wheels (1961), expansion to global markets, the first minifigures (1978), Legoland, computer games, movies.
• Endurance of the System
  • The system philosophy runs deep. LEGO's product development is “unbelievably rigorous,” ensuring every new piece continues to work with all others, old and new.

    “The LEGO group has an almost religious fervor in terms of every part works with every other part…” —Daniel Konstansky ([32:24])

  • The ongoing euphoria in play is by design:

    “They want to make this playground, this walled garden, so perfect that…you don’t even think about it.” —Daniel Konstansky ([33:27])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Imagination and Reality:

  “Having that mirror to the outside society is something we have seen in the entire course of our history.” —Christian Reimer Haug ([05:27])

• On the System in Play:

  “The bricks you bought yesterday, they fit with the ones you buy today, and they will also fit with the ones you buy tomorrow.” —Christian Reimer Haug ([06:52])

• On Product Philosophy:

  “It’s really more a way to think about how we generate ideas for toys, how we approach the products…” —Daniel Konstansky ([24:27])

• On the Value of Persistence:

  “Making mistakes, learning from them will lead you to the best end result.” —Christian Reimer Haug ([11:58])

• On Modern LEGO’s System Rigidity:

  “The process…to design new elements is unbelievably rigorous. They’ll design every permutation in the family of elements.” —Daniel Konstansky ([32:24])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• LEGO Factory and Museum Introduction: [03:21–07:16]
• Origins and Early Years: [07:16–13:06]
• Fire, War, and Move to Plastic: [13:06–18:14]
• Development of the Brick and “System in Play”: [21:06–26:55]
• Clutch Power and LEGO’s Unique Patent: [29:14–30:55]
• Expansion, Minifigure, and Modern Legacy: [31:36–33:38]

Conclusion: LEGO’s Lasting Blueprint

This episode captures not only the story of a toy, but also an enduring lesson in innovation from adversity, systemic thinking, and the kind of inclusive design that allows creativity to flourish across generations. LEGO's reinvention wasn't just about changing its materials, but about fundamentally rebuilding what a toy could mean, setting a blueprint for products and play that persists to this day.

Special Thanks:
Christian Reimer Haug (LEGO Idea House), Daniel Konstansky (Blocks Magazine), Chris Byrne (The Toy Guy)
Production credits: Ben Dickstein (Host/Producer), Sally Helm (Story Editor), and the team at Back Pocket Studios.