How developments in the auto industry drove a postwar boom in decorative laminates.
Techniques learned in the auto industry set the world on the road to surface paradise, writes Chris Pearson.
For more than a decade, Melbourne entrepreneur Bob Sykes had been producing fabric- and resin-coated cogs for Ford and General Motors to help their engines run smoothly. But by 1946, auto technology was overtaking him and he needed a new ‘resin’ d’être.
In the US, electrical engineers Daniel O’Conor and Herbert Faber had been using a material similar to his fabricand resin-coating, called Formica, for insulation products. They had also discovered a much more lucrative application: decorative laminates.
Sykes set sail for the US to investigate.
On his return, Sykes shifted the focus of his company, Laminex, from auto parts to decorative laminates – and in doing so, turned the Australian furniture and building industries on their heads.
The original laminates featured fabric bound in resin, but later comprised paper encased in clear melamine. It was heat-, fade- and scratch-resistant, and the paper facilitated trendy colours and patterns. In the midst of Australia’s postwar building boom, what could be more desirable than space-age finishes? By the late 1950s, Laminex and its imported rival, Formica, were household names, glossy symbols of prosperity in an age when anything was possible and what resulted was a breeze to wipe down.
“Laminex was used on benchtops and kitchen cabinets, dining tables, sideboards, display cabinets, bedheads – anywhere that a wood veneer might have been used previously,” says Laminex product design manager Neil Sookee. It offered endless customisation – homeowners would visit stores and select their furniture, in the colour they wanted. What a choice they had. “Lovelier for a lifetime” Laminex came in tantalising Batik, Basketweave, Corroboree and Marble patterns, and in hues such as Bikini Blue, Rose Coral, Turquoise Fern and Daffodil Melotone. It even took on the look of timber veneer.
By the 1970s, the colour palette had become broader and bolder, though pattern was out and laminate was largely used for joinery and benchtops. Yet it remained relevant and, in 1984, the Laminex House display home opened in Warrandyte, Victoria, to show the material’s versatility and currency.
In 2002, Laminex became the Laminex Group. Five years later, its owner, New Zealand company Fletcher Building, acquired the Asian, European and North American divisions of the Formica Group and moulded them with Laminex.
WHAT IT MEANS TO US
Laminex and Formica are sold in 64 countries on six continents, with sales of decorative laminates exceeding 95 million square metres a year, says Neil Sookee. Clearly, the appeal is still there.
“Digital technology has made it possible to emulate the look and feel of natural materials,” he adds. White is tops, in nuanced variants, often textured. So, too, are timber and stone lookalikes. Other advances include formability, where heat is used to bend laminate for seamless benchtops.
Sydney architect Scott Weston uses Laminex for decoration and kitchen joinery, inside and out. “It’s a humble, cost-effective material that provides endless possibilities and stands the test of time, enabling me to craft spaces and joinery to each client,” he says. In a recent project, his clients were midcentury buffs so he designed a kitchen resplendent in coral and turquoise – in laminate, of course.