Uncovering the History of Bakelite – The First Plastic

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

The first entirely synthetic plastic was Bakelite, the trade name for phenol-formaldehyde or phenolic resins. Dr Leo Baekeland patented it in 1907 and founded the American General Bakelite Company in 1910. This was to put his invention into commercial production. The company became the Bakelite Corporation in 1922. Later, the Union Carbide and Carbon Company took over in 1939. 

Material properties and chemistry

Chemically, Bakelite is a phenol formaldehyde resin, produced by the condensation of phenol and formaldehyde under controlled heat and pressure. Once cured, the material becomes infusible and insoluble, meaning it cannot be softened, remelted, or reshaped. This thermosetting behaviour distinguishes Bakelite from later thermoplastics and gives it exceptional dimensional stability.

These properties made Bakelite highly heat-resistant and electrically non-conductive. These characteristics were critical to its widespread adoption in early electrical and industrial products. In manufacturing, the resin was often combined with fillers such as wood flour, cotton fibre, or mineral additives. These improved strength, machinability, and surface finish while enabling efficient moulding at scale.

The chemical foundations of Bakelite can be traced to nineteenth-century advances in organic chemistry. This includes research into phenolic compounds by figures such as Adolf von Baeyer. Building on this scientific lineage, Leo Hendrik Baekeland successfully transformed laboratory chemistry. He turned it into a commercially viable material that would reshape twentieth-century manufacturing.

Product design material

Baekeland’s creation of the Bakelite Corporation of Great Britain in 1922 also impacted Europe. Although laminated phenolic resins were initially used to manufacture gears, Bakelite emerged as an essential new design material. 

This followed the expiry of the Baekeland patents in 1927. Many new variants of phenolic resin became available under various trade names. This new competition drove prices down. Additionally, it produced brightly coloured variants of a material that had previously been black or dark brown. 

Smooth, light, durable

In the United States, many industrial designers were enthusiastic about the smooth, lightweight, and durable shapes. These could be quickly produced using the new resins. 

For example, Raymond Loewy used Bakelite to emphasise the smoothly rounded casing effect. This was evident in his celebrated 1929 design for a Gestetner duplicating machine. 

Bakelite was displayed at the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, keeping the product in the public eye. 

The social construction of Bakelite

The development and adoption of Bakelite cannot be understood solely through its chemical or technical properties. In The Social Construction of Bakelite, historian of technology Wiebe E. Bijker demonstrates that Bakelite emerged through interactions among multiple social groups, including chemists, engineers, manufacturers, designers, and users. Each group attributed different meanings and values to the material, shaping how it was developed and applied.

During its early history, Bakelite exhibited what Bijker terms interpretative flexibility: engineers emphasised its electrical insulation and heat resistance, manufacturers prioritised mouldability and production efficiency, and designers and consumers associated it with smooth surfaces and modern form. Bakelite became stabilised as a design material when these interpretations converged within shared industrial contexts, particularly in electrical goods and domestic products. By the early 1930s, Bakelite was widely recognised not as an experimental resin but as a standard material of modern industrial and consumer design.

Bakelite Products

In Britain, Bakelite was widely used, particularly in the innovative radio cabinets produced by E. K. Cole Ltd., such as the rounded Wells Coates-designed Model AD65 radio (1934) and Serge Chermayeff’s elegant Model AC74 radio. 

As in the commercially successful French outdoor café range launched in 1932, Manufacture d’Isolants et Objets Moulés also used phenolics in furniture production. After their introduction in the years before the First World War, phenolic laminates were used in various applications for several decades. Their use ranged from decorative panels to clothing fabrics.

Bakelite costume jewellery

Bakelite jewellery became popular in the 1930s. This was due to its use by prominent designers such as Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. It was cheap and popular, with matching necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings. Women of all ages wore dress clips, bangles, brooches and pins. Hair ornaments finished off the effect, and all these accessories could be stored in jewellery boxes.

During World War II, the demand for durable synthetic materials increased dramatically. This reinforced Bakelite’s importance as a foundational material in the emerging modern plastics industry.

Additional Resources

American Chemical Society – Educational Resource

Sources

American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. (n.d.). Bakelite: The world’s first synthetic plastic. Retrieved from https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/bakelite.htm

Baekeland, L. H. (1909). The synthesis, constitution, and uses of Bakelite. Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 1(3), 149–161. Retrieved from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ie50003a004

Bakelite. (n.d.). In Britannica.com. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/Bakelite

Bakelite. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite

The Bakelite Museum. (n.d.). About the Bakelite Museum and collection. Retrieved from https://www.bakelitemuseum.net/

Baker, I. (2018). Bakelite. In: Fifty Materials That Make the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78766-4_4

Bijker, W. E. (1987). The social construction of Bakelite: Toward a theory of invention (pp. 159-187). Cambridge, MA: MIT

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Cook, P., Slessor, C. (1992). Bakelite: An Illustrated Guide to Collectable Bakelite Objects. United States: Chartwell Books..

Newton, D. (2010). Art deco electric jugs. Spirit of Progress, 11(4), 5–8. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.693808501404942

Science History Institute. (n.d.). Leo Hendrik Baekeland – Inventor of Bakelite. Retrieved from https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/leo-hendrik-baekeland

Smithsonian Institution. (n.d.). Leo H. Baekeland Papers and related Bakelite history. Retrieved from https://www.si.edu/object/archives/sova-nmah-ac-0005

Woodham, J. Bakelite. In A Dictionary of Modern Design. : Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 Jan. 2021

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