Bakelite Deco Pull

An authentic mid century/ Deco drawer or cupboard pull in mottled Bakelite. A perfect handle for a restoration or reproduction cabinet project.

Bakelite - Leo Hendrik Baekeland was born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1863. He emigrated to the United States in 1889. His first major invention was Velox, a photographic printing paper that could be developed under artificial light. Baekeland sold the rights to Velox to George Eastman and Kodak for one million dollars in 1899. He then started his own laboratory in Yonkers, New York, where he invented Bakelite in 1907, a synthetic substitute for the shellac used in electronic insulation and an alternative to celluloid, a very flammable mouldable resin.

Bakelite was made by mixing carbolic acid with formaldehyde, and is considered the first plastic. In 1909 Bakelite was introduced to the general public at a chemical conference as Baekeland founded the General Bakelite Corp. In 1944 Baekeland died at the age of eighty years in Beacon, N.Y.

Bakelite was used to manufacture everything from telephone handsets and costume jewellery to engine parts and insulation for electrical parts.