Ole Kirk Kristiansen (7 April 1891 – 11 March 1958) was a Danish carpenter. In 1932, he founded the construction toy company The Lego Group. Over the course of his working life, Kristiansen developed his business from a small woodworking shop that sold household products into a wooden toy manufacturer. In 1934, he named the company Lego and defined its core principles. Lego would eventually transfer to the production of plastic bricks following the purchase of a plastic moulding injection machine in 1947. When Ole died in 1958, the management of the company transferred to his son Godtfred. Early years Kristiansen was born in Omvraa Mark, Filskov, South Jutland, Denmark, which is 20 km northwest of Billund. He was the tenth child of an impoverished family in Jutland. His parents were Jens Niels Christiansen and Kirstine Christiansen. Although the family were poor, Kristiansen was able to receive a basic high-school education. It was while he was working as a farmhand from the age of six that Kristiansen developed a fascination with whittling wood, in between the two days per week that he attended school. In 1905, when Kristiansen was 14, he began working as an apprentice for his older brother, Kristian Bonde Christiansen. In 1911 he left Denmark and went to work in carpentry for five years in Germany. Wood-working business In 1916, Kristiansen bought the Billund Woodworking and Carpentry Shop with money he had saved and made profitable sales over the years. During the late 1920s, the business focused on restoring and developing new buildings and also producing household goods for the local community. In 1924, Kristiansen's business was almost destroyed when his sons, Karl Georg and Godtfred, caused a fire to break out after tinkering with wood shavings. Consequently, both the workshop and the family home burned down. Following this event, Kristiansen decided to expand his business and planned the building of a larger workshop with a family apartment. By 1930, Kristiansen employed a small workforce to maintain his growing business. Family and personal life Whilst practicing his trade in Norway, Kristiansen met Kirstine Sørensen, the daughter of a Norwegian cheese-maker, and they subsequently married in 1916 after returning to central Jutland. Together, they had four children named Johannes, Karl Georg, Godtfred and Gerhardt. Kristine died in 1932. Two years later, Kristiansen married Sofie Jörgensen and they had one daughter named Ulla. Kristiansen was a member of the