Synthetic Beginnings

Abstract

This chapter establishes some of the history of the industrial production of synthetic materials. It considers the transition from the discovery and production of natural plastics to artificial or laboratory-made ones. The broader context of the industrial revolution in Great Britain narrows to consider the specific history of one company, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), and, in particular, its Tees valley factories, understood as dependent on specific features of landscape and weather in the region. The company’s origins in war—its role in synthesising nitrogen in emulation of the Germans, for example—are explored. Issues related to the nutrition of growing populations are outlined. The impact of the Second World War on invention is drawn through the immediate postwar history of the company, which tracks the emergence of synthetic materials into everyday life, in the form of such things as artificial fibres for clothing, various forms of household plastic, household paints, brands which become household names. A press-button age is proclaimed in the company magazine. Links are made between these ephemeral, futuristic, easy commodities and the elemental matter and processes that underpin their production. A hint of the everlasting nature of their matter is brought up—the substances never go away, but at the same time, they deteriorate and leech into the environment.