Box

In the 1930s plastics were often used to imitate luxury natural products, but nature could also be exaggerated, and this box gives the impression that it was cut from a single piece of fantastically coloured jade or marble. The iridescent effect could be produced in various colours and green was the result of adding lead phosphate to the moulding compound. The box was made by Halex Ltd, which was founded as British Xylonite in 1896 and opened its first factory in Walthamstow, East London, in 1897, where it pioneered the manufacture of celluloid in Britain. By the 1930s Halex Ltd was making a large variety of plastic personal goods including combs and toothbrushes, as well as household items

Box · Walthamstow · 1930-1940. Cellulose acetate with marbled effect. By Halex Ltd.. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.