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This exhibition explores the rise, and rise of plastics from 1900, the decade in which the first synthetic plastic was invented, to the present…and on into the future. The timeline places the development of plastics in the context of national and world events.
In 1900 there were only a few types of plastic and now there are tens of thousands. Since 1976 plastic, in its variety of types, has had more uses than any other material in the world.
In the early decades it tends to imitate the forms and appearance of other materials but gradually new forms, building on the potential of plastic, begin to appear and colour becomes a key player in the design.
Acknowledgements
We should like to thank Jen Cruise for her donation of combs.