New and Beautiful Homes

Visitors to the exhibition held lately in London learned how plastics and aluminum have been used together in the framing of building projects in Britain—and this heralds the beginning of a new age. The double use of these materials is expected to be of great benefit in homes.

Those responsible for this exhibition affirm that the products displayed can now be obtained, and that plastics can today be used in everything where their use appears more profitable than the use of other materials.

The companies that are to manufacture plastics and aluminum were represented at this exhibition, and they have drawn up their projects to meet the needs of the home and foreign markets, including the markets of the Middle East. The members of these companies say that numerous orders have reached them from abroad for the import of these products.

One woman has contributed a great part in the production of the wares we shall see in the new homes: this lady is Mrs. Gaby Schreiber, one of the greatest designers in plastics. She realized that this new kind of material must have a new spirit and modern artistic expressions, on condition that they be simple and uncomplicated in their lines and their elementary designs.

The two things that aroused the greatest interest at the exhibition were the kitchen and the bathroom, both designed by Mrs. Schreiber.

The exhibition's critics, commenting on this kitchen, said that it is "a splendid kitchen, perfectly suited to the homes of working men." Its air is bright and cheerful, and it has a "cupboard" for foodstuffs pierced with openings for the vegetable bins, and with openings besides that let in the air. All the fittings of the kitchen are of plastic, of a beautiful blue color. As for the shelves of the "cupboard," upon them stand rows, lovely to behold, of kitchen utensils, all in gay and cheerful colors. The plates and the cups and the spoons were all of this plastic, at times coming out like glass, with a smooth, sleek surface and a look that delights the beholders and brings gaiety into the whole kitchen.

A special design was made for kitchen cupboards manufactured of plastics, in answer to the requests of the women who wish to obtain such equipment.

They stand three feet high; they are easy to clean and resistant to damp, and it is impossible for them to crack. Their base and their shelves are made of aluminum, and the handles of their drawers are set in inward curves, so that clothes or pockets cannot catch upon them. They are covered, moreover, with a kind of colored plastic. The exhibition also contained a few samples of plastics—colored things suitable for curtains; and progress in these materials now goes steadily forward, so that women's coats, proof against the rain, may be made of them—and in this is proof of how women's clothes are affected by the steady advance of the manufacture of these plastics.