The King of Spain, the German President and the Dutch Prime Minister were present. The Grand Egyptian Museum was inaugurated in Cairo, the world’s most comprehensive exhibition of the civilization born on the banks of the Nile. After two decades of work, surprises, delays and revolutions, the long-awaited project has become reality. The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, therefore considered that such a solemn occasion deserved a gift worthy of it. Even the protocol could not contain the enthusiasm of his local counterpart, Badr Abdel Aty, when he received it: his smile, in an official photo, is the same as that of millions of children – and increasingly adults – in front of a new Lego. Specifically, the Great Pyramid of Giza, a recreation of the ancient wonder that stands near the new art gallery. It is estimated that the initial construction took at least 20 years. Who knows how long it will take the Egyptian politician: he will have to assemble 1,476 pieces, one of the largest sets in the catalog. In the meantime, the Danish company has added a new brick to its reputation. She has always visited many houses, but now she is invited to the most exclusive rooms. Even the White House, in its decoration for this Christmas, displays a portrait of President Trump made of Lego.
Just eight years ago, the Danish company saw its profits fall and laid off part of its workforce. Today, it has become one of the most solid and recognized firms on the planet. Not only in childhood: a neologism, Children, reflects the equally unprecedented increase in adult consumption. The company sells crates to build from a chip truck or a chicken farm to the Trevi Fountain or The starry night from Van Gogh, through the Millennium Falcon or the machines that Aloy faces in the video game horizon. Brands like Disney, Stranger Things or the Spice Girls allowed her to break down and reassemble her symbols. And the little yellow dolls already look like success in clothes, movies or board games, like A brick like that! either Monkey Palace. A study, collected in 2019 by the agency Bloomberg, concluded that investing in Lego was more profitable between 1987 and 2015 than in gold, art or wine.
The company, founded in 1932 by carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, still maintains the same motto: “Inspire and develop the builders of the future”. But there are also its main problems: prices that are sometimes impossible even for today’s manufacturers. And plastic production that threatens precisely this future.
“His business was always based on diversification. The founder started with all kinds of toys, first made of wood. But he ended up focusing on building bricks, and that’s where he decided to focus his energy,” reflects Sarah Herman, author of books such as Building a story: the Lego group either A million little bricks. To write them, he researched, asked questions and gained access to the main headquarters, in Billund, a Danish city of around 7,000 inhabitants where the company was born and where it maintains its heart. He comes away with surprise: “Many people think that there were bricks and figurines from the beginning, but that is not true. » Jens Nygaard Knudsen, the inventor of the yellow miniatures, clarified this. The man is said to have managed a store before signing in 1968 for the company which entrusted him with the creation of the “Lego people”. The first, unveiled in 1974, was larger and more detailed than the current one. Therefore, the buildings to house them also required more space and rooms. This is how the so-called “extra” was born, a smaller and simpler version. Around fifty prototypes gradually bring it closer to today’s icon.
“We have hundreds of designers (more than 430 in Billund), human inspiration, numerous product tests and studies and very precise manufacturing,” summarizes the creative process Pilar Vilella, brand director for France and the Iberian Peninsula. And Rok Zgalin Kobe, designer of the Lego Architecture section, which reproduces buildings like the Eiffel Tower or Himeji Castle, explained on the official website the development of a popular project: the Colosseum, launched in 2020 with 9,036 pieces, the largest number in the company’s history. “One of the most stressful times is when the product of months or years of work is pushed into an industrial oven,” he said. After all, the reproduction aspired to defy the passage of time, just like the Roman original.
Although the Lego version of the Flavium Amphitheater illustrates much more than the company’s ambition. The recommended age is 18 and up, who will spend the most on toys in the United States in 2024, as Herman points out. “It’s always been expensive entertainment. But bigger, more expensive sets are a more recent phenomenon. And that has a lot to do with adult fans, who have made collecting them a status issue,” the writer adds. Pilar Vilella acknowledges that some launches have “higher prices”, which she links to the number of pieces, research and “exclusivity”. At the same time, remember that a quarter of the catalog costs less than 19.99 euros. And in any case it celebrates the passion of the elders, destined to pass it on to their children.
Lego must make room for around 800 new products per year, which is why certain creations are being phased out. “Lego sets do not show a significant correlation with financial crises and can be considered an attractive investment with potential diversification,” concludes the analysis of 2,300 sets cited by Bloombergand led by Victoria Dobrynskaya, assistant professor at the Russian Higher School of Economics.
“The Lego brick has an enduring appeal: it transcends language, culture, age and interests,” boasts Pilar Vilella. And he defends that this remains at the center of his strategy: any new initiative must “follow the DNA” of the brand. They are already present in cinema, board or digital games, series or books, and more than 20 licenses, selected based on trend studies, listening to fans, calculations of permanence or complexity of their transfer to construction. Even if the offer should be expanded: the application Lego game wishes to introduce programming in certain settings, and the adult community can now set up the Mona Lisa, a tropical aquarium or an orchid. An approach which, according to Herman, has borne fruit, after more uncertain and irregular decades: “Some fans can get closer through Star Wars or Harry Potter, and only buy games from these licenses. And that creates a collectible aspect, as well as a certain expectation of novelty. They have also invested heavily in the brand, to build trust and a reputation for quality. Video games and films have helped to strengthen it, introducing more humor and characters, and winning over new audiences.
There is, however, one bet that is not entirely successful for Lego. In 2021, the company announced tests to make a recyclable plastic brick, instead of traditional, polluting ABS plastic. But he ultimately chose to try to reduce the carbon footprint of his usual resource. “We have tested hundreds of materials. It is simply not possible to find one that is the same,” admitted CEO Niels Christiansen in 2023 to Financial Times. And sustainability manager Tim Brooks called failed attempts to find alternatives “disappointing”: in some cases, the process of achieving the same strength and efficiency by other means ended up contaminating even more. Thus, the initial objective of eliminating all petroleum plastic from its creations by 2030 was postponed to 2032, as well as a reduction in its emissions of 37% compared to 2019. “It is something complex, because the new bricks must meet safety, quality and durability standards,” recognizes Villela. He assures that more than 600 materials have been tested, and that research ranges from artificial marble to sugar cane, including the remains of fishing nets and recycled oils. This same year, in the meantime, the deadline for another commitment made by Lego expires: to renounce all single-use plastic in all its packaging.
“The very nature of these global brands is antithetical to reducing carbon emissions and climate change,” Herman points out. And he suggests that the company focus more on a path it is starting to take: free delivery, or even with bonuses, of old boxes so that they can be reused by others. The writer adds: “In its defense, the durable nature of Lego means that one person’s collection can be passed down to another generation and have a few more lives. » It turns out that bricks build everything. Even the monuments of remembrance.
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