Bakelite, “The Material of a Thousand Uses”

At the turn of the 20th century, industrial chemists sought substitutes for shellac and hard rubber — naturally derived materials increasingly in demand for various industrial applications. In 1907, Leo Baekeland heated a mixture of phenol (derived from coal tar) and formaldehyde (derived from wood alcohol) to form a dark, durable resin he called "Bakelite." Baekeland had created the first chemically synthetic plastic.

Bakelite's commercial potential enticed others to infringe on Baekeland's patents or find workarounds to create their own phenol formaldehyde, or "phenolic," resins. Two early competitors included Condensite — developed at Thomas Edison's West Orange laboratory for use in phonograph records — and Redmanol, the result of a Chicago furniture company’s search for a synthetic varnish.

The general public remained relatively unfamiliar with Bakelite (and its competitors) for years. Early plastics were hidden — both literally, within power stations or automobiles, and figuratively, as unassuming components of everyday objects. Where Bakelite appeared in the home — as the stem of a tobacco pipe, plate covering an electrical outlet, or handle of a kitchen appliance — it resembled hard rubber.

The American Catalin Corporation imported a German method of coloring phenolic resins in the late 1920s. Catalin introduced products, like this bracelet set, in a range of colors starkly different from Bakelite's dark browns and blacks. Other competitors perfected injection molding processes for phenolic resins — a faster and cheaper means of producing novelties. Bakelite quickly adopted these and other developments.

Bakelite was one of few pre-World War II plastics to succeed in marketing an individual brand. In the 1930s, the availability and popularity of plastic bracelets, earrings, pendants, brooches, and hat clips like this one skyrocketed. As with most inexpensive plastic novelties from that time, regardless of manufacturer or material, this jewelry was — and still is — commonly referred to as "Bakelite."

The Bakelite Corporation worked to secure a place for plastics in 1930s America. The company spurred the formation of a trade association for plastics manufacturers — the Society of the Plastics Industry. To help win over designers, manufacturers, and consumers, it also mounted exhibitions promoting Bakelite products as "Modern Plastics for Modern Living."

In the 1930s, industrial designers reimagined everyday products and gave them modern appeal. Through seminars and promotional partnerships, the Bakelite Corporation encouraged these designers to use plastics — "modern" materials that lent themselves to new, streamlined shapes and could be created in a range of updated colors. The age of plastics had undeniably arrived.

The Bakelite Corporation merged with Union Carbide in 1939, and Bakelite saw continued specialized use — especially in industrial applications, as this photograph shows — into the 21st century. But after World War II, most phenolic materials were replaced by thermoplastics — just as durable, but cheaper and easier to produce. These new materials owed some of their success to Bakelite, which had helped make plastics a household name.