The Bakelite Museum is a collection of
Bakelite
Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
and other articles belonging to Patrick Cook that is currently looking for new premises.
History
It began as an art installation in London galleries in the 1970s and was opened as a museum in Greenwich in 1983. It includes vintage plastics such as radios, cameras, telephones,
Bayko
Bayko was a British building model construction toy invented by Charles Plimpton, an early plastics engineer and entrepreneur in Liverpool. First marketed in Britain it was soon exported throughout the British Commonwealth and became a worldwid ...
play bricks and a Bakelite coffin. The Bakelite era is also represented by non-plastic objects from the early 20th century – fridges, cookers, washing-machines, toasters and comptometers.
An additional feature is the contents of one of the first, pioneering Bakelite factories in Britain, with presses, moulding machines and original steel moulds.
After 25 years in an 18th century watermill in
Williton
Williton is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, at the junction of the A39, A358 and B3191 roads, on the coast south of Watchet between Minehead, Bridgwater and Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district.
Williton sta ...
, Somerset, England, the collection was moved into storage. It is now under the auspices of a charitable trust, the Bakelite Design Trust, whose aim is to establish a new museum to show the collection in an urban location accessible to all.
Image:Interior, the Bakelite Museum, Williton - geograph.org.uk - 1024884.jpg, Interior
File:Bakelite Museum Williton 01.jpg
File:Bakelite Museum Williton 03.jpg
File:Bakelite Museum Williton Vacuum Cleaner.jpg, Vacuum cleaners with Bakelite bodies
File:Bakelite radio.jpg, Bakelite radio
File:Bakelite Museum Williton Picnic Basket 02.jpg, Picnic basket
File:Bakelite Museum Williton Clock.jpg, Clock
Image:Disused water wheel - geograph.org.uk - 1024881.jpg, Disused water wheel
See also
*
Leo Baekeland
Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" ...
, inventor of Bakelite
References
External links
Article about the museum with photosBakelite! (youtube)
{{EngvarB, date=May 2018
Museums in Somerset
Grade II listed buildings in West Somerset
Decorative arts museums in England
Watermills in Somerset
Grade II listed museum buildings
Grade II listed watermills