#Formica July 30

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In the 1950’s and 1960’s American kitchens included a lot of FORMICA.

FORMICA was originally developed as an industrial material. It was first developed in 1913 to replace the mica mineral used in electrical insulators. Replacing mica led to its name “for mica”.

By the mid-20th century it had found its way into American homes. People fell in love with its colorful surface, durability and easy to clean characteristics. The kitchen in my house growing up had a Formica tabletop.

FORMICA Dinette Sets

Formica tabletops were used for end tables and coffee tables, but the best-known application was the kitchen and dining table. These beauties came with a chrome base and legs.

Tying it together were chairs with seats and backs upholstered in matching vinyl. Many people called them “dinettes.” Our table and many others had drop-down or insertable leaves to adjust the size,. When you have a family of six kids the leaf stayed fully extended.

Because many of the original patterns have been discontinued, vintage Formica tables in good condition are a prized find among retro enthusiasts and antiques’ lovers.

Daniel J. O’Conor and Herbert A. Faber, the founders of FORMICA, were two engineers who met in 1907, their first year of employment at Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh. Westinghouse was one of many manufacturers experimenting with the developing field of synthetics manufacture, with each scrambling to find applied uses for the new materials. O’Conor and Faber rose through the ranks of the company, with O’Conor in the research engineering department and Faber in sales. 

Faber and O’Conor left Westinghouse in 1913, convinced that this new laminated material was an important one and that it was underappreciated and underdeveloped at Westinghouse. In search of capital, they found a partner in J.G. Tomlin, a lawyer and banker from Kentucky who gave them $2,500, for which he received a one-third stake in the new venture. They made Cincinnati, Faber’s home town, its headquarters. The company’s first plant was a rented two-story space, and it held a 35-horsepower boiler and a gas stove. It opened its doors in 1913 with an order to be filled: commutator V-rings for the Chalmers Motor Company. Other early clients were Ideal (later Delco) Electronics and Bell Electric Motor.

You can read the complete history of their company at this link