Marco Crisciotti Is the term Lego an acronym? Let's find out how the beloved toy got its name and what it means
@Lego
The name Lego requires no introduction; to millions of people around the world, it spells creativity and fun. But what might surprise people not from Denmark is the innocently simple origin of the name. The name Lego is a combination of two Danish words, “leg godt“, which roughly translates into “play well“. That is a phrase that encapsulates the very ethos of the product: to play constructively and imaginatively. This was the name given to the company by its founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, back in 1932, when he began producing beech wood toys from his workshop in Denmark. The intuition brought forth by Kristiansen turned out to be a winning one, and today, Lego bricks are an internationally embraced icon among children and adults alike.
The success story of Lego
Naming was not where it all ended concerning the success of Lego. What began with simple wooden bricks developed, over time, into sophisticated plastic construction playsets that today engage and delight children. In the process, Lego adapted to evolving times, changing with the times, until it became a reference point in the world of toys. What has helped Lego to stay ahead is how it has managed to cope with the changes in the market and also with the diversified needs of their consumers.
Lego as an investment
What was really surprising, however, in a study undertaken this year-that is, in 2022-is that Lego sets typically go up in value and have better, even outcompeting stocks, bonds, and even gold. This is partly due to the case of increasing demand by the adult audience for Lego’s products. The amazing truth is that research has shown adults-especially those over 18 years-old-are now including a greater share and even outnumbering those very targeted preschool children.
Lego has cashed in on this by launching more and more complex, and hence more expensive sets. The 10,001-piece Eiffel Tower went on sale at $630. Almost targeted at collectors and enthusiasts, these have become an investment of sorts for many buyers. It should not come as a shock, then, that some investors have taken up the buy-and-sell of Lego sets as a lucrative enterprise. One was Shane O’Farrell, who claimed he had already made over $500,000 selling Lego sets. O’Farrell said that through his investment, he had been able to achieve a 400% return on investment in just one and a half years-a phenomenal achievement of how much money there can be made out of these toys.
Interest in Lego sets has not gone unnoticed without being an object of crime. In recent years, numerous Lego set thefts have occurred, some of which even involved organized crime. Police along the U.S. West Coast foiled several Lego set thefts this summer amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among these were an Oregon criminal group that had succeeded in stealing Lego products valued at $200,000. An incident revealing how the market for Lego has turned lucrative enough to be of interest even to organized crime goes this way.
The curious case of the Lego shark
Another curious incident with Lego bricks took place recently off the coast of England, when a fisherman recovered from the sea a toy in the shape of a shark that was part of a Lego set dated 1997. That shark is considered one of the rare pieces; therefore, its value is in the hundreds of dollars. This find does have quite a story behind it, which dates back a number of years when during a storm, a cargo ship lost a container full of Lego. Over the years, some of these scattered pieces have come ashore, though this is believed to be the first recovered shark figure.
A brief history of Lego
It is a history of the Lego brand, which began in 1932 when Ole Kirk Kristiansen, residing in Billund in Denmark, started a small business manufacturing wooden toys. First, the company produced simple toys, for example, cars and animals, but production evolved over the years. It was in 1949 that Lego made plastic bricks for the first time; this was the turning point. The brick that could be put together and taken apart ad infinitum, Pericoloso, instead became an innovation in 1947-the real revolution of the toy world. Since that moment, Lego never stopped creating increasingly complex and thematic sets, which launched generations of its fans. Today, Lego is much more than a simple toy: it is a symbol of creativity, education, and timeless fun.
