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A History of the World in a Dozen Objects: Number 1 - Lego
2011.05.17
Yesterday at 08.56 EDT (12.56 GMT) The Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully took off on a 16 day mission to the International Space Station. Part of its payload is 13 Lego kits which will be used in experiments in microgravity, and will no doubt keep the astronauts amused. This is just the latest part of a story which tells us far more than just about the toy itself.
Lego was first made in 1949. Although not quite the first toy of it's type it was the first one to be successful on a large commercial scale. From humble origins in 1932 as a one man business making wooden toys, today they sell more than seven lego kits every second and produce over 23 billion pieces each year.
We can learn key things about both technology and sociology from the history of Lego.
On a technological front, there was no such thing as plastic until 1862. For the first 80 years the plastics that we had were heavy and expensive and brittle. As a product it was, for most applications, worse than wood. The particular type of plastic that Lego is made from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene was not developed (like a lot of things) until WWII. So Lego is a very good marker of what technology existed at the time it was first made.
On the sociological front, the rise of Lego coincides with both the rise in leisure time and our attitude towards children. For the first time in history there were large numbers of children who were not expected to spend nearly all their time either studying or working (depending on which social class they were born into).
There are also lessons in economics. In the early days Lego consisted of just bricks. They were sold on the basis of durability, flexibility and encouraging the child's imagination. Gradually other pieces were added such as specialist roofing parts or wheels, until in 1974 a breakthrough happened: The Lego figure. Soon there was a major change in marketing strategy. Children were no longer expected to have a single set of Lego that could be used flexibly. Kits were produced with lots of specialist pieces designed for one function only. Films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter were used as vehicle to boost sales. Imagination was lost and the building of Lego became, like so much else in popular culture, a matter of following what you've been told to by Hollywood. Lets hope the astronauts are more imaginative.
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I was fascinated by the series of short radio programmes made by Radio 4 and The British Museum, A History of the World in 100 Objects. One of the things that fascinated me was how many of the objects were not huge expensive pieces (when they were made) but were everyday objects. It inspired me to think about the objects around my house and what we might learn from them so I've selected a dozen rather than 100.
If you'd like to hear the original radio series, a set of free podcasts can be downloaded from here.
Lego was first made in 1949. Although not quite the first toy of it's type it was the first one to be successful on a large commercial scale. From humble origins in 1932 as a one man business making wooden toys, today they sell more than seven lego kits every second and produce over 23 billion pieces each year.
We can learn key things about both technology and sociology from the history of Lego.
On a technological front, there was no such thing as plastic until 1862. For the first 80 years the plastics that we had were heavy and expensive and brittle. As a product it was, for most applications, worse than wood. The particular type of plastic that Lego is made from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene was not developed (like a lot of things) until WWII. So Lego is a very good marker of what technology existed at the time it was first made.
On the sociological front, the rise of Lego coincides with both the rise in leisure time and our attitude towards children. For the first time in history there were large numbers of children who were not expected to spend nearly all their time either studying or working (depending on which social class they were born into).
There are also lessons in economics. In the early days Lego consisted of just bricks. They were sold on the basis of durability, flexibility and encouraging the child's imagination. Gradually other pieces were added such as specialist roofing parts or wheels, until in 1974 a breakthrough happened: The Lego figure. Soon there was a major change in marketing strategy. Children were no longer expected to have a single set of Lego that could be used flexibly. Kits were produced with lots of specialist pieces designed for one function only. Films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter were used as vehicle to boost sales. Imagination was lost and the building of Lego became, like so much else in popular culture, a matter of following what you've been told to by Hollywood. Lets hope the astronauts are more imaginative.
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I was fascinated by the series of short radio programmes made by Radio 4 and The British Museum, A History of the World in 100 Objects. One of the things that fascinated me was how many of the objects were not huge expensive pieces (when they were made) but were everyday objects. It inspired me to think about the objects around my house and what we might learn from them so I've selected a dozen rather than 100.
If you'd like to hear the original radio series, a set of free podcasts can be downloaded from here.
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Interesting idea Jon and as usual very well set into a frame. Could be also an issue for the MOP
GKorts · 2011-05-17: 10:00
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somehow, i believe you might enjoy minecraft.
stormfish · 2011-05-17: 10:04
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p.s. i always keep a box of lego handy, as well at home and in the office. not only does it help to relax when project work brings blood to boiling, it help to understand that most problems can be atomized into little working blocks. :-)
stormfish · 2011-05-17: 10:07
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wow, very good :)
grynteea · 2011-05-17: 10:16
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Great colours and composition
noptek · 2011-05-17: 10:41
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Wow. I love your ideas and creativity!!
urmysunshine · 2011-05-17: 10:45
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I used to be infatuated with LEGO... I 'used' to have such an imagination for building things... Oh where oh where did it go?! Great research here, Jon. Interesting stuff.
smbunation · 2011-05-17: 11:21
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Great post Jon. Love the shot and love the history lesson. Love your commentary on creativity. I am sad with the passing of the Shuttle voyages!
danrav · 2011-05-17: 12:05
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Great Jon...i grew up with Legos and have a huge collection that my brothers kids are using at the moment....
MARETKA88 · 2011-05-17: 12:23
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Lego, never had it ... but my kids do!!
Ryana · 2011-05-17: 13:27
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Great idea, the difficulty will be choosing only 12 for the short list. I remember when Lego was just bricks but if you were posh you had roofing bricks too!
busybee36 · 2011-05-17: 14:08
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I know it from my son.but to say true we like more wooden blocks.
gonia · 2011-05-17: 14:09
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Great stuff Jon.....
LAZYWASP · 2011-05-17: 17:02
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Great post -- looking forward to the rest. When the electricity used to get shut off here almost nightly, we'd sit around the dining room table building Lego structures by candlelight!!!
????? · 2011-05-17: 17:38
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Such a wonderfully informative and fascinating post Jon - I'm so looking forward to the rest of the series. I love the thought of the astronauts floating around playing with Lego in their free time!
girafferacing · 2011-05-17: 18:15
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I remember the bricks :-) Great shot!
jet28 · 2011-05-18: 05:21
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Astronauts are always more imaginative... You ask a very young child what they want to be when they grow up and many will say astronaut as their first response... By the age of 10 or 12 the child has already submitted to giving a more 'realistic' response...that's very sad :-( This is a great post Jon and I look forward to more from the series!
????? · 2011-05-18: 13:21
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gosh! I never played lego! haha
onlyricky · 2011-05-18: 14:02
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this is very creative!
lyricalthoughts · 2011-05-19: 00:30
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haha excellent
mountainflower · 2011-05-21: 14:22
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I grew up with Lego...before the movie tie-in kits... but my brain just doesn't work that way... they were just a pile of bricks to me.
McMommy · 2011-05-21: 22:35
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