The Musée du Peigne et des Matières Plastiques
The first plastics museum in Europe
Sylvia Katz

While we in England discuss the idea of a national plastics museum, the French have already realised the first stage in the establishment of a museum devoted to the history of plastics. Forty kilometres west of Geneva in the "plastics valley" of France lies Oyannax, the centre of the horn and comb industry since the 18th century, and now the industrial hub of the plastics industry in France.

The Musée du Peigne et des Matières Plastiques was opened in 1977 and at the moment occupies a handsome space in the high-tech Cultural Centre in the town. But a perfect building has been acquired for the permanent museum and plastics centre - a disused factory, originally purpose built to house artisans working with celluloid.
The first building on the site was powered by steam, hence the name "La Grande Vapeur". The present factory was built in 1905 by L'Union Electrique, which rented out individual 'cabinets de travail' to cutters, shapers, polishers and setters of stones, all fabricating articles from celluloid. The danger of fire, always a hazard when working with cellulose nitrate, was minimised not only by the lay-out of the workshops but also by an ingenious sprinkler system, whereby water stored on the roof ran down through pipes to the workshops.

The Grande Vapeur scheme will be a plastics dream come true. In the basement - the stores and conservation workshops on the ground floor - the renovated workrooms with the original machinery, the main museum collection, a machinery hall and a shop; and on the first floor - rooms for meetings and presentations for both museum and commercial use, displays of modern Oyannax plastics, a cafe, a library, the archives and a caretaker's flat.
By bringing to life the story of celluloid, the museum will provide a detailed picture of the origins of the plastics industry. Progress has been greatly aided by the fact that both the museum and La Grande Vapeur belong to the city itself.

Top photo by Sylvia Katz shows La Grande Vapeur - a listed building barely altered since 1905.
Bottom - Axonometric drawing showing the second floor café above the main entrance.