Jens Nygaard Knudsen Who Invented And Designed The Famous Lego Minifigures Dies At 78

Many of us have Lego minifigures at our homes or workplaces. For those who collect them, they're more than just kids' toys.

In sad news for fans. Jens Nygaard Knudsen, the designer and creator of the iconic Lego minifigures with interchangeable legs and torsos,died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The 78-year-old died at a hospice centre where he had stayed for a week according to Lego designer Niels Milan Pedersen, a former colleague of Nygaard Knudsen.

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“His imagination was so fantastic. If we had a brainstorm it was more like a brain hurricane because he had so many ideas,” Metro quoted Milan as saying.?

Nygaard Knudsen was a designer at the Danish toy brick maker from 1968 to 2000.?

He developed the now legendary minifigures, Lego people, with movable arms and legs in the 1970s. These were released in 1978.

Lego Group

When the figure was first created, according to Lego, it was decided that apart from having a yellow face with a neutral happy expression, it would have no gender or race. These would be/could be ‘determined by the child’s imagination and play.’?

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“He was a man of ideas. The figure was created so that there would be life in the houses. At the time Lego’s houses were empty, but then he drew this man,” Metro quoted his widow Marianne Nygaard Knudsen as saying.?

The children’s world has suffered a great creative loss.?