![]() Logo used since 1998 | |
Type | Construction set |
---|---|
Inventor(s) | Ole Kirk Christiansen |
Company | The Lego Group |
Country | Denmark |
Availability | 1949–present |
Materials | Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene |
Official website |
Lego (/ˈlɛɡoʊ/ LEG-oh, Danish: [ˈle̝ːko];[1] stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Its pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Assembled Lego models can be taken apart, and their pieces can be reused to create new constructions.[2][3]
The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Moulding is done in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, and China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in the former three countries and in the Czech Republic. Annual production of the bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. One of Europe's biggest companies, Lego is the largest toy manufacturer in the world by sales.[4][5] As of July 2015[update], 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.[6] The line maintains a large fan community based around building competitions and custom creations, and a range of films, games, and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand.
Such innovations have propelled the family-owned toymaker to become one of Europe's biggest corporate success stories.. Lego, with essentially just one product in endless iterations, has become by far the biggest toymaker in the world by sales, and on a different level altogether in terms of profits.