1. SALOME ESCOBAR-CHAFFEE DEVON VILLACAMPA MARK STILLEMAN PARTH PATEL

2. CHAPTER 1 IMPROVING NATURE

3. THE HISTORY OF COMBS  Originally made from ivory gathered from elephant tusks  Combs were expensive and used as a symbol of status  Among the first and popular objects made of celluloid  Leominster, Massachusetts is the countries comb capital during the 19 th century  The invention of plastics mimics the natural materials combs originally are made from, making them cheaper more accessible to the public

4. CELLULOID  The first industrial plastic  In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt discovers celluloid as a replacement for ivory; primarily for billiards  Celluloid meaning “like cellulose” is created from a natural polymer found in cotton  In its evolvement, celluloid’s greatest impact was serving as the base for photographic film  In 1940 injection molding machines are used from mass production of plastics

5. BAKELITE  The first synthetic plastic  Invented to replace shellac (A product of the sticky excretions of the female Lac Beetle- it takes 15, 000 beetles, six months, to produce enough resin needed to produce a pound of shellac)  Invented by Belgian-American chemist Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland in 1907. He is also famous for Velox photographic paper in 1893  Formaldehyde + phenol = Bakelite  Thermo-set Plastic

6. THERMO-SET vs. THERMO PLASTICS  Thermo-set plastics are synthetic materials that strengthen during being heated, but cannot be successfully remolded or reheated after their initial heat-forming. This is in contrast to thermoplastics, which soften when heated and harden and strengthen after cooling.  During the 1920-30’s there is an outpouring of new materials such as cellulose acetate, polystyrene (later becomes Styrofoam) and nylon (the artificial silk)

7. CHAPTER 2 A THRONE FOR THE COMMON MAN

8. THE CHAIR  “Considered the Mount Everest of furniture design” pg. 29  Chapter 2 concentrates on the inventions and reason designers embraced plastics  If the comb brought plastic to the masses, the chair showed us how fabulous plastic could be. Pg. 29 Funerary chair discovered in the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, discovered at Giza and dating from the Old Kingdom. Cairo Museum

9. The Thonet Model 14 created by German cabinet maker, Michael Thonet, 1859 Herman Miller Company- Ergonomically Aeron Office Chair 1957- Eero Saarinen- Tulip Chair

10. INNOVATION & DESIGN  Plastics created a frenzy of ingenuity  Plastics gave artists a range of colors, sleek surfaces, undulating curves, and different shapes  1950-60’s – The chair era, embraced exuberance and experimentation  1968- Baydur is discovered (a glossy, hard, polyerethane foam) this was the perfect plastic for the Paton Chair  Polypropylene is used in the 1970’s as a less costly plastic in chair manufacturing  1980’s polycarbonate plastic is used by Philippe Starck’s “Louis Ghost” Chair

11. “Plastics…a way to a better, more carefree life” -House Beautiful, October 1947 issue