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Side view of a Valentine typewriter showing the red body and black keys.

Valentine typewriter

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Side view of a Dropp bowl showing the matt outer surface and glossy inner surface.

Dropp! bowl

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Top view of a skateboard showing the fish shape.

Minnow Skateboard

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Side view of a storage container showing the head and tail.

Roomii

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Side view of a bangle showing the thickness of the material.

Trees cuff

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Top view of an umbrella showing the patternof the fabric.

Mary Quant umbrella

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Front view of a telephone showing the dial.

GPO Model 746 telephone

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Side view of a ball showing the well used surface.

Parkesine snooker ball

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Side view of a pile of pellets showing the mainly black sample.

Recycled polyethylene pellets

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Side view of a cable sample showing the stranded and plied outer armour.

Submarine cable

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Side view of a pipe showing the ventilation spaces in the top.

Terrain Hydromax siphonic roof drainage system

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Top view of a snuff box showing the moulded portrait.

Oval Charles I snuff box

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Front view of a clock showing the spherical shape.

Presta alarm clock

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Front view of a pair of shoes showing the basket weave appearance.

Children's red jelly sandals

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Museum of Design in Plastics

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Current Exhibition: Why plastics?

Why plastics? explores the properties and applications of plastics and considers why designers and manufacturers choose to use them in their products.

Before your visit to MoDiP please check for any planned closures advertised on the visiting us page.

Buffalo calf inflatable
AIBDC : 006954 Tooth soap box

MoDiP collection

The MoDiP collection offers a wide spectrum of objects, from the 19th, 20th & 21st centuries, which illustrate the role of plastics against social and historical contexts.

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PHSL : 281 Manicure set

PHS collection

The Plastics Historical Society, which was formed in 1986, is an independent society affiliated to the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

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WCHL : 526 Gentleman's combined pocket brush, comb and mirror

Horners collection

The Worshipful Company of Horners is both an ancient craft guild and a modern City of London Institution promoting the interests of the polymer industry.

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Visiting MoDiP

MoDiP has a number of resources which you might find useful:

  • To find out more about the museum including an introductory video see About us
  • To see what we have in the collection see Collections
  • View our physical and digital Learning resources
  • To find out more about accessing the collection during our closure please Contact us

We welcome individual and group visits.

The museum is on the first floor of the Arts University Bournemouth library and can be accessed via a lift.  For more information about coming to the museum for a visit, to do research, or have a group session, click on the link below.

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Studying the collection

MoDiP Blog

Final blog post from MoDiP’s Student Creative, Lisa Moro

25 May 2022

Welcome to my final blog post where I am pleased to show my final outcome, ‘Hidden Workings’ for this project working with the MoDiP collection.

I wanted to continue my previous practice using augmented reality for the work and have focused on three items from the collection. I chose these on the basis of my ability to produce a 3D scan of the object and the potential…

BIC 4 colour pen, part 2

18 May 2022

Following on from last week’s blog post about the BIC 4 colour pen, this week Tracey Pawley, from AUB Finance, has written about her recollections of this classic plastic design.

 

I owned my first BIC 4-colour pen in the mid-80s. My family moved house just before my ninth birthday and with that came a change in school. My previous school…

BIC 4 colour pen, part 1

11 May 2022

I really enjoy using my BIC 4 colour pens.

My collection of BIC 4C pens.Image credit: Katherine Pell  

They are incredibly useful when you need a quick change of ink colour, which I do often as I am forever writing colour-coded lists of jobs that need to be done in the museum. And I am not the only one around here who appreciates these iconic plastics pens…

Current & Past Exhibitions

Why plastics?

18 Mar 2022 - 2 Sep 2022

The material of which an object is made has a profound effect on its perceived worth.  This is because we inhabit a world full of materials and we, as individuals, place them in a spectrum of value.  Often plastics are at the lower end of our personal spectra where we might hold more ‘noble’ materials, including precious metals, ceramics, and glass, higher up.  As such, the use of plastics in…

Endurance

9 Sep 2022 - 10 Mar 2023

An exploration of how plastics materials help us to exist or survive in extreme situations or locations including on water, up a mountain, and in the air.

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