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Object name(s):
Fruit bowl
Brief description:
Round red fruit bowl in moulded Melaware (Melmex) plastic.
Collection:
Victoria and Albert Museum
Associated concept:
Tableware & cutlery
Associated concept:
Containers
Credit line:
Given by the designer
Current reproduction location:
https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MN9613/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg
Location type:
Thumbnail
Dimension:
Height
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
10.2
Dimension:
Width
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
22.9
Dimension:
Depth
Dimension measurement unit:
cm
Dimension value:
22.9
Object name:
Fruit bowl
Object number:
C.63-2003
Object production date:
ca. 1957
Date - association:
designed
Date - earliest / single:
1952-01-01
Date - latest:
1961-12-31
Object production organisation:
EKCO
Organisation's association:
manufacturer
Object production person:
Rowlands, Martyn
Person's association:
designer
Object production place:
England
Place association:
made
Physical description:
Round red fruit bowl in moulded Melaware (Melmex) plastic.
Reproduction number:
2020MN9613
Responsible department/section:
CER
Technique:
Moulded Melaware (Melmex) plastic
Text reason:
Collections online record
Text:
Martyn Rowlands trained at the Central School in London. He specialised in plastics. He was one of the first trained industrial designers to work with British industry after the Second World War. He worked first for Bakelite Ltd, then set up the design department at Ekco Plastics, where his products won a number of design awards. In 1959 he left Ekco to work as an independent design consultant. This was at a time when the idea of the design consultancy in Britain was still in its infancy. One important commission in 1966 was the popular telephone known as the ‘Trimphone’, which won a Design Council Award. Rowlands's products for Ekco included tableware, nursery products, a baby bath with stand and a watering can. He developed products specifically to suit the qualities of plastic materials. He did this rather than simply carry across traditional forms.
Text reason:
Summary description
User's reference:
Reference:
Penny Sparke: "Consultant Design: The History and Practice of the Designer in Industry", Pembridge Press, 1983

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/0ee9fb2a-7b0a-35a7-a06a-254e18187a09

Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/0ee9fb2a-7b0a-35a7-a06a-254e18187a09, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC

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