Necklace designed and produced by goldsmiths Audi Pauwels and Kitty Spaenjers, 2012
Unique Piece
Bakelite from Afrika, Sterling silver, 8,5gr Gold 750Au, steel lock
Dimensions: 27 h x 24 w cm
Weight: 166 gr
Huis Pauwels-Spaenjers - Bakelite Neckace
inspired by the Masai, the bakelite was purchased from African merchants who sold authentic African beads and jewelry.
The material Bakelite (registered brand name for phenolic resin) is considered the very first fully synthetic plastic. It was mainly used around the middle of the twentieth century and is named after Leo Baekeland (1863 - 1944) from Ghent.
At the beginning of the twentieth century he experimented with mixtures of phenol and formaldehyde. The result was the plastic Bakelite (around 1907). The Bakelite brand name was first registered in Germany on May 22, 1909. Phenolic resin was first produced commercially under the Bakelite brand by the German company Bakelite GmbH, later Bakelite AG, co-founded by Leo Baekeland in Erkner near Berlin.