Vitrolite for Clean Colour : advert issued by the British Vitrolite Co Ltd., London : in 'Specification 1934'
From the 1934 edition of the annual "Specification" issued by the Architectural Review an advert issued by the British Vitrolite Co Ltd for the opaque, coloured structural glass Vitrolite.
Vitrolite was one of a number of such glass products initially developed in the US in the ealry Twentieth Century of which Vitrolite, as a trade mark, has become best known despite not being, arguably, the bestseller in the US. That appears to have been Carrara glass manufactured by Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG). Vitrolite itself sprang from the Meyercord Carter Company who latterly renamed themselves after the product and where, in 1935, bought out by the new industry giant Libbey-Owens-Ford Company.
It appears that Pilkington's in the UK were manufacturing 'Vitrolite' by the early but there's also evidence, as here, that the US company had itself set up a UK selling arm. Quite how that worked I'm not sure. But in the new 'art deco' and 'moderne' architure and design of the 1930s the material had its boom days as this style of highly finished, coloured materials were of great benefit to designers.
The glass itself appears to have ceased to be produced in the US by the late 1950s although Pilkington's seem to have been manufacturing it until c1968.
Vitrolite for Clean Colour : advert issued by the British Vitrolite Co Ltd., London : in 'Specification 1934'
From the 1934 edition of the annual "Specification" issued by the Architectural Review an advert issued by the British Vitrolite Co Ltd for the opaque, coloured structural glass Vitrolite.
Vitrolite was one of a number of such glass products initially developed in the US in the ealry Twentieth Century of which Vitrolite, as a trade mark, has become best known despite not being, arguably, the bestseller in the US. That appears to have been Carrara glass manufactured by Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG). Vitrolite itself sprang from the Meyercord Carter Company who latterly renamed themselves after the product and where, in 1935, bought out by the new industry giant Libbey-Owens-Ford Company.
It appears that Pilkington's in the UK were manufacturing 'Vitrolite' by the early but there's also evidence, as here, that the US company had itself set up a UK selling arm. Quite how that worked I'm not sure. But in the new 'art deco' and 'moderne' architure and design of the 1930s the material had its boom days as this style of highly finished, coloured materials were of great benefit to designers.
The glass itself appears to have ceased to be produced in the US by the late 1950s although Pilkington's seem to have been manufacturing it until c1968.