Melamine tableware allows you to live on your deck without worrying about damaging your fine china. Find out how these practical utensils became essential for everyday dining in the 1950s and beyond.
Leanne Potts is an award-winning journalist who has been covering design and housing for thirty years. She’s an expert on everything from choosing a room’s color palette to growing heirloom tomatoes to the origins of modernism in interior design. Her work has appeared on HGTV, Parade, BHG, Travel Channel and Bob Vila.
Marcus Reeves is an experienced author, publisher, and fact-checker. He began writing reports for The Source magazine. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, The Washington Post and Rolling Stone, among other publications. His book, Someone Screamed: The Rise of Rap in the Black Power Aftershock, was nominated for a Zora Neale Hurston Award. He is an adjunct faculty member at New York University, where he teaches writing and communication. Marcus received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In post-war America, the typical middle-class neighborhood was characterized by patio dinners, lots of kids, and leisurely get-togethers where you wouldn’t dream of going to dinner with fine china and heavy damask tablecloths. Instead, the preferred cutlery of the era was plastic cutlery, especially those made from melamine.
“Melamine definitely lends itself to this everyday lifestyle,” says Dr. Anna Ruth Gatling, an assistant professor of interior design at Auburn University who teaches a course on the history of interior design.
Melamine is a plastic resin invented by German chemist Justus von Liebig in the 1830s. However, since the material was expensive to produce and von Liebig never decided what to do with his invention, it lay dormant for a century. In the 1930s, technological advances made melamine cheap to produce, so designers began to ponder what to make from it, eventually discovering that this type of thermoset plastic could be heated and molded into affordable, mass-produced dinnerware.
In its early days, New Jersey-based American Cyanamid was one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of melamine powder to the plastics industry. They registered their melamine plastic under the trademark “Melmac”. Although this material is also used to make watch cases, stove handles and furniture handles, it is mainly used to make tableware.
Melamine tableware was widely used during World War II and was mass-produced for troops, schools, and hospitals. With metals and other materials in short supply, new plastics are considered the materials of the future. Unlike other early plastics such as Bakelite, melamine is chemically stable and durable enough to withstand regular washing and heat.
After the war, melamine tableware entered thousands of homes in large quantities. “In the 1940s there were three large melamine plants, but by the 1950s there were hundreds,” Gatlin said. Some of the most popular brands of melamine cookware include Branchell, Texas Ware, Lenox Ware, Prolon, Mar-crest, Boontonware, and Raffia Ware. .
As millions of Americans moved to the suburbs following the postwar economic boom, they purchased melamine dinnerware sets to suit their new homes and lifestyles. Patio living has become a popular new concept, and families need inexpensive plastic utensils that can be taken outdoors. During the heyday of the baby boom, melamine was the ideal material for the era. “The dishes are really unusual and you don’t have to be careful,” Gatlin said. “You can throw them away!”
Advertising from the time touted Melmac cookware as a magical plastic for “carefree living in the classic tradition.” Another advertisement for Branchell’s Color-Flyte line from the 1950s claimed that cookware was “guaranteed not to chip, crack or break.” Popular colors include pink, blue, turquoise, mint, yellow and white, with vibrant geometric shapes in a floral or atomic style.
“The prosperity of the 1950s was unlike any other decade,” Gatlin said. The optimism of the era is reflected in the vibrant colors and shapes of these dishes, she said. “Melamine tableware has all those signature mid-century geometric shapes, like slender bowls and neat little cup handles, that make it unique,” says Gatlin. Shoppers are encouraged to mix and match colors to add creativity and style to the decor. pleasure.
The best part is that the Melmac is quite affordable: a four-person set cost about $15 in the 1950s and about $175 now. “They are not precious,” Gatlin said. “You can embrace trends and really show off your personality because you have the option of replacing them after a few years and getting new colors.”
The design of the melamine tableware is also impressive. American Cyanamid hired industrial designer Russell Wright, who brought modernism to the American table with his American Modern line of tableware from Steubenville Pottery Company, to work his magic with plastic tableware. Wright designed the Melmac line of tableware for the Northern Plastics Company, which won a Museum of Modern Art award for good design in 1953. The collection called “Home” was one of Melmac’s most popular collections of the 1950s.
In the 1970s, dishwashers and microwaves became staples in American kitchens, and melamine cookware fell out of favor. The wonder plastic of the 1950s was unsafe for use in both cookware and has been replaced by Corelle as the better choice for everyday cookware.
However, in the early 2000s, melamine experienced a renaissance along with mid-century modern furniture. The original 1950s series became collector’s items and a new line of melamine tableware was created.
Technical changes to melamine’s formula and manufacturing process make it dishwasher safe and give it new life. At the same time, growing interest in sustainability has made melamine a popular alternative to disposable plates that end up in landfill after a single use.
However, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, melamine is still not suitable for microwave heating, limiting its resurgence, both old and new.
“In this age of convenience, as opposed to the 1950s definition of convenience, that old melamine dinnerware is not likely to be used every day,” Gatlin said. Treat durable 1950s dinnerware with the same care you would treat an antique. In the 21st century, plastic plates can become valuable collectibles, and antique melamine can become fine china.