How Was Lego Invented? | Explained in Under 10 Minutes

In 1932, a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen was broke, his business destroyed by the Great Depression. He started making small wooden toys to survive. What followed is one of the most unlikely origin stories in business history.Nelson — a proud Adult Fan of Lego (AFOL) — leads the team through it all: the two factory fires, the death of Ole Kirk's wife, the pivot to plastic, and the 1958 breakthrough that gave us the stud-and-tube system we still use today. That design is engineered to a tolerance of two micrometres — tighter than most industrial components — which is why a brick made in 1958 clicks perfectly into one made last week, sixty-seven years later.Emma explains the remarkable chemistry of ABS plastic and what gives a new Lego set that unmistakeable smell. Hannah unpacks the near-collapse of the early 2000s, when Lego was losing a million dollars a day after disastrous overexpansion into theme parks, clothing, and consultancy. Brian finds Sanskrit wisdom in the act of building. And the team grapple with Lego's biggest challenge yet: transitioning 100 billion petroleum-based bricks to sustainable materials by 2030.Have a topic you'd love us to explain? Send your suggestions to [email protected] — we read every one!