The LEGO Group was founded in 1932 in Denmark.
Carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen established the company in Billund during the Great Depression. It initially made wooden household products and toys, rather than the interlocking plastic bricks now associated with LEGO. The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934.
LEGO began producing plastic toys after the Second World War and introduced its modern automatic-binding brick in 1958. That design became the foundation of the company’s later construction systems. A common mix-up is treating 1949, when LEGO began making early plastic bricks, as the company’s founding year.
The company remains headquartered in Billund, where LEGO’s history is also presented at LEGO House. The name LEGO came later than the business itself, but both the company and its first workshop are closely connected with the Danish town.