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

Valentine typewriter

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

Dropp! bowl

View object
Top view of a skateboard showing the fish shape.

Minnow Skateboard

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

Roomii

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

Trees cuff

View object
Top view of an umbrella showing the patternof the fabric.

Mary Quant umbrella

View object
Front view of a telephone showing the dial.

GPO Model 746 telephone

View object
Side view of a ball showing the well used surface.

Parkesine snooker ball

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

Recycled polyethylene pellets

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

Submarine cable

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

Terrain Hydromax siphonic roof drainage system

View object
Top view of a snuff box showing the moulded portrait.

Oval Charles I snuff box

View object
Front view of a clock showing the spherical shape.

Presta alarm clock

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

Children's red jelly sandals

View object

Museum of Design in Plastics

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Current Exhibition: Endurance

This exhibition shows how good design and the right choice of plastics materials can play a part in reducing risk to life and help us to survive in a variety of situations, including out at sea, in the air, and when travelling at high speed.

 

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

Little Sun solar lamp
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

Sleep Pod, Ian Ashby, Justin Devereux and Pete Kenyon, 2018

25 Jan 2023

When we began planning for the Endurance exhibition, we considered many different environments a person might find themselves in and how plastics materials can help them to survive in those particular conditions. For example, we wanted to examine difficult situations such as exploring the Arctic/Antarctic, trying to live in a Desert and adapting to fly at high altitude. One area we felt…

Veret electric bed warmer, Ernest Paul Feakes, 1937

18 Jan 2023

Mindful of the cost-of-living crisis, my family have been using our rubber hot water bottles far more this winter than we have done in previous years. They are a fantastic invention and help with the energy-saving mantra I keep reading everywhere: ‘heat the person, not the room’. MoDiP does not actually have a rubber example in the museum yet, but we do have this lovely bakelite version (…

Endurance - in a flood

11 Jan 2023

In 2020 England recorded record breaking levels of rainfall which had a devastating impact on thousands of homes and communities. It is estimated that over 5.2 million properties in England are currently at risk of rising water levels and, although the government has pledged to double the amount they spend on flood defences, there are relatively inexpensive measures that homeowners can take…

Current & Past Exhibitions

Endurance

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The enduring properties of plastics materials can have negative connotations, especially in relation to the pollution of land and oceans by poorly managed waste streams, single-use products, and those that are carelessly thrown away. Those same material characteristics can be put to good use to make objects that help people survive and thrive in stressful and difficult environments.  

Reuse

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The Reuse exhibition looks at notions of sustainability and plastics.  It explores the way things are designed to encourage or enable reuse.

Seen and unseen

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An exhibition which explores objects that are either physically out of sight or those that, despite playing significant roles in our lives, may be overlooked.