Godtfred Kirk Christiansen Learning Center

My learning center for Night of the Notables this year is done in the form of a website like last year so that you can pick and choose to learn about the parts most interesting to you. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, my eminent person this year, was the second owner of LEGO who developed the design of the LEGO brick and the vision for LEGO’s model of business.

You learn more about Godtfred by visiting my learning center with this link:

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen Learning Center

After looking at the learning center, feel free to leave comments or questions that you have in the comment section of this blog.

-Ben

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18 comments

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  1. Anonymous · December 2, 2021 at 2:36 am ·

    I love Lego! Very interesting! Such a brilliant creation. Thank you for a great presentation!

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 2:55 am ·

      Thanks very much. I always appreciate hearing from people who love the toys we make.

  2. Ron Comeau · December 2, 2021 at 2:57 am ·

    Very cool example of how setting laser focus on a system can lead to a “less is more” result. I also think LEGO is a better name than Automatic Binding Blocks! What do you think of LEGO’s strategy of creating licensed properties since it’s initial patent expired?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 3:15 am ·

      An effect of the system in play that I didn’t mention in my learning centre is that the consistency and system it brings makes LEGO more accessible and appealing to adults as well as children. I think creating licensed products is brilliant, as it capitalizes on that even more. Themes like Star Wars and Marvel are appealing to older ages, as those IPs have a wide fanbase in adults. So yes, I think it is a great decision and one of the ways that LEGO has set itself apart from knock-off brands.

  3. Claire · December 2, 2021 at 3:02 am ·

    Greetings.
    I like how your website was really organized and neat, I enjoyed reading and learning about Lego. You have also gotten many achievements, but my question is why did you decide to create Lego in the first place?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 3:19 am ·

      Hi Claire, great question. It was actually my father who created the toy company after his carpentry wasn’t selling well. I immediately took interest in the business and became involved at a young age. We eventually decided to buy a molding machine, and one of the samples the seller was giving out was a plastic brick. We used a similar brick as one of the many plastic toys we made. After I decided to use that brick for the system in play, I developed it further and renamed it the LEGO brick.

  4. Ellie · December 2, 2021 at 3:50 am ·

    Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, amazing lerning center! I can see the detail and effort that went into creating this website! I enjoyed learning about your thinking process around lego. Do you feel that Joel Glickman (inventor of K’NEX) took the idea from lego? Do you feel threatened by their business?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 4:14 am ·

      I think that he certainly drew inspiration from LEGO and its system, but I don’t consider the idea of having a system for toys strictly mine. As for their business, I will say that I might have back when I was the owner of LEGO, but not anymore. That’s because LEGO has changed a bit in that it now places more importance on story and world-building, especially with the onset of licensed products. Maybe when its focus was more on creativity through engineering I would have been threatened by a company like K’NEX, but not anymore as LEGO also appeals to children’s creativity through storytelling, which K’NEX does not. I also have faith in my grandson to make the right decisions for the company.

  5. Glen · December 2, 2021 at 4:02 am ·

    Beautiful website! I thought I knew so much about Lego but I was wrong! Fantastic representation of your learning. My only question for you would be, where do you think the toy industry would be if it was not for Lego’s innovations?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 4:18 am ·

      I’m glad you enjoyed learning about my family’s creations! I think maybe another toy company would get the idea of a system, but I don’t believe anyone could execute it as well as my family has over the years. Children would likely live in a world entirely dominated by companies like Hasbro and Mattel, with no reusability or consistency to their toys. It is a grim thought.

  6. Henry · December 2, 2021 at 5:08 am ·

    Hi Godtfred, amazing work on your learning center! It was organized, professional, and covered a lot of detail. I like the way you set everything up. I’m curious what your goal was after becoming director of the LEGO Group. Did you envision how your toy would influence people worldwide?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 5:14 am ·

      Thanks for the feedback! My vision for my company was of course to grow, and reach new audiences in other countries and continents, creating new LEGO products and ideas. My vision for how I wanted the brick to impact children was to inspire their creativity and give them a toy that is fun but also makes them think and problem solve.

  7. Bana · December 2, 2021 at 5:10 am ·

    Thank you so much for making LEGO bricks, they’re the best thing ever! Thank you so much for this incredibly easy-to-follow and insightful learning centre, as well. There are so many nuggets of incredible information and the timeline was very well-made. What do you think of the extremely complex and beautiful structures that older fans of LEGO make these days? How much do you appreciate your system has gone beyond the younger audience it was intended for?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 5:18 am ·

      Thanks for the feedback on my learning center, I’m glad you liked it! I am very happy that LEGO is a vessel for creativity, engineering, and design for all ages, as that is one of the reasons the LEGO system is special. Right from the beginning, my vision was of sprawling LEGO cities and other creations, which is evident in the box art of early LEGO toys. I really enjoy seeing what people create with the LEGO brick.

  8. Matthew · December 2, 2021 at 5:19 am ·

    Awesome website! The website is very well organized into sections, easy to navigate, and very informative. It was cool to see how LEGO originated and the long story behind its famous LEGO bricks.
    Did you created the six rules with an order of importance in mind? If it isn’t in a specific order, which one would you consider the most important?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 5:25 am ·

      Thanks! They don’t have a specific order of importance, though I consider my third rule to be the most important (3: It has to be simple and durable and yet offer unlimited variety). This simplicity is a staple of the system in play, as it is all about the reusability of bricks, and if there were many very specific pieces, the toy would be less reusable and have less variety and stifle imagination.

  9. kwasstrom · December 2, 2021 at 6:13 am ·

    Hey Godtfred! I’m a big fan of your product, though not of stepping on it…I’ve noticed that my nephew loves playing with Lego and also has a couple of video games which are Lego versions of other stories (like Lego Indianna Jones). Do you worry that this kind of shift to digital gaming could eventually steer your own customers away from the products you spent so much time building and perfecting?

    • Benjamin · December 2, 2021 at 3:29 pm ·

      Whether or not that happens depends on the customer. What I do believe is that many will become more excited about the IP in the game by playing it, and therefore will likely become more excited about the LEGO sets based around it as a result. These types of games also have been around for a while now, and have never foreshadowed the main LEGO product very largely, so I don’t see a trend in them gaining popularity and LEGO bricks losing it.